AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5263 - LPG benefits fail to reach Nandan Nilekani’s constituency

In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.

On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.

In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.

In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.

In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.

"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi

Ram Krishnaswamy

Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

5263 - LPG benefits fail to reach Nandan Nilekani’s constituency

LPG benefits fail to reach Nandan Nilekani’s constituency

K R Balasubramanyam, ET Bureau Mar 4, 2014, 11.39AM IST

(In Bangalore South many…)

BANGALORE: In Bangalore South Lok Sabha constituency, where Unique ID Authority Chairman Nandan Nilekani is seeking to contest on a Congress ticket, many LPG consumers were surprised to see their subsidy disappearing within days after they landed in their SB accounts over the last two weeks.

"I used to get subsidies earlier, but two weeks ago my subsidy was as quickly reversed as it was credited into my SB account," an LPG consumer from a poor household in Basavanagudi area told ET requesting that her name and account details not be made public. Basavanagudi is one of the eight Assembly segments that come under the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat.

Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Deputy General Manager (LPG) Dilip Rai confirmed the occurrences which he said were limited to Canara Bank. "It happened because of technical issues. The bank is resolving the same," he said. According to N Sathyan, an Indane gas distributor at Tilaknagar in Bangalore South, the two-day bank strike on Feb 11-12 also compounded the problem, and his agency explained things to customers.

"The bank is setting it right," he said. One of the chief planks on which Nilekani is seeking votes in Bangalore is the Aadhaar project, but many LPG consumers have an experience or two to share about the subsidy. "The LPG consumers are supposed to receive their subsidy within a week after they have taken delivery of the cylinder, but that is not the case many a time," added Sathyan, who is also the Karnataka chapter secretary of All India LPG Distributors Federation.

Flood of accounts

The Bangalore-headquartered Canara Bank saw a flood of requests for new SB account openings in the last couple of months after the Centre widely publicised that Aadhaar number and SB Accounts are mandatory for getting LPG subsidy. "We have got about 1,000 new SB Accounts in the last three months. Most of these people are either poor or from lowincome groups, and LPG subsidies are the only reason why they have opened the accounts," said a senior Canara Bank official in Basavanagudi area.

According to Rai, the IOC releases subsidies through the State Bank of India, which credits the same to individual SB accounts of consumers through the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI). "The bank strike also led to some problems , and we are crediting subsidies to those who have not received yet," Rai said.

The Indian Oil Corporation, meanwhile, is making arrangements to revert to the earlier system of delivering subsidised LPG cylinders to consumers. "We will be switching back to the old system this week," Rai said.