AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5365 - Don’t exclude those without Aadhaar, share data: SC

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

Thursday, March 27, 2014

5365 - Don’t exclude those without Aadhaar, share data: SC - Indian Express

Don’t exclude those without Aadhaar, share data: SC

Written by Utkarsh Anand | New Delhi | March 25, 2014 2:45 pm

SC restrained UIDAI from sharing Aadhar card info with any agency. (PTI Photo)

SUMMARY

SC also ruled that people cannot be denied any service or benefit for not having an Aadhaar card.

The Supreme Court Monday restrained the Centre and the Unique Identification Authority of India from sharing the vast biometric database of Aadhaar cards with any third party or agency without the consent of the registered person.

It also ruled that people cannot be denied any service or benefit for not having an Aadhaar card. The UIDAI database has personal information of 60 crore people and is processing more than 10 lakh enrollments a day.

Emphasising on the confidentiality of the database, the court said the UIDAI shall be prohibited from handing out any information to a third party — government or private — unless the card-holder consented.

On using the database in criminal investigation, a bench led by Justice B S Chauhan said that information about fingerprints and other data could be shared only after a suspect approves it.

While issuing notices on a petition moved by the UIDAI against an order of the Bombay High Court that seeks to examine if its biometric database can be used in criminal investigation, the court agreed to hear the case along with a bunch of other petitions challenging the very validity of the Aadhaar card.

The CPI(M) and some civil liberties organisations have repeatedly charged the government with compromising vital data of Indian citizens while the BJP has questioned giving Aadhaar cards to illegal migrants, besides the absence of a legislative enactment to validate the Aadhaar scheme.

During the court proceedings on Monday, the bench also took up grievances being raised before it on making the Aadhaar number compulsory for delivery of social services and subsidies. The court questioned why authorities were still insisting on production of Aadhaar cards by applicants when it had held otherwise last year.

The bench then ordered that no person shall be deprived of any benefit or services for want of the Aadhaar card and that the government shall ask its departments to issue necessary circulars making this clear. The court said any order passed by authorities to make Aadhaar mandatory shall be withdrawn immediately.

The latest controversy involved an order of a Goa court, asking the UIDAI to give the CBI biometrics of all residents enrolled with Aadhaar in the state to help solve the gangrape of a seven-year-old girl. The court noted that the database, which includes recording of fingerprints, iris and facial images of applicants, was supposed to be devoid of duplication and tamper-proof.

The girl was raped in a school in Goa’s Vasco city 14 months back but the case is yet to be cracked. However, there were some chance fingerprints recovered from the scene of crime and the magistrate thought UIDAI could match these fingerprints with its database to help ascertain the identities of the assailants.

Aggrieved by this order, the UIDAI moved Bombay High Court and claimed validation of the magistrate’s order will open the floodgates of such directives by other courts as well other authorities. It added the UIDAI system was developed “for civilian use and for non-forensic purposes”.

But the high court recorded that the UIDAI had agreed to test the competence of its database in comparing the chance fingerprints with its biometric record and also asked the director general of the Central Forensic Science Laboratory to examine the technological capabilities of the UIDAI database.

The UIDAI, however, termed the high court’s order wrong and erroneous and petitioned the Supreme Court. It added questions relating to right to privacy of users was also a subject matter of the bunch of PILs currently being adjudicated by the SC and hence no order could be passed to share information of the applicants in the meantime.