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

5376 - Aadhaar becomes battleground for Nilekani, Ananth fight - Indian Express

Aadhaar becomes battleground for Nilekani, Ananth fight


At election rallies, Kumar has labelled initiative the ‘Niraadhaar programme’, and accused the UPA of siphoning funds under its name. 

Express News Service | March 27, 2014 4:10 am

Nandan Nilekani campaigns in the Bangalore South constituency on Wednesday. (www.pics4news.com)

The Unique Identification Aadhaar card has emerged as a key poll issue in the Bangalore South constituency where Congress candidate, former UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani, is up against BJP’s five-time MP Ananth Kumar. This comes after a Supreme Court order reiterated that an Aadhaar card is not a prerequisite for public services, and a sting operation by a news portal revealed illegal immigrants could obtain Aadhaar cards as well.
Kumar used this to attack Nilekani who, as UIDAI chief, had conceived and supervised the roll out of Aadhaar cards for 60 crore people.

At election rallies, Kumar has labelled initiative the ‘Niraadhaar programme’, and accused the UPA of siphoning funds under its name.

Nilekani, on his part, accused Kumar of attempting to sabotage a government programme for political mileage. Nilekani has also filed a complaint with the Election Commission and the Press Council of India “on the lies and omissions being spread by vested interests and by Kumar” on the Aadhaar issue.

“The Aadhaar card does not address security and socio-economic issues. It gives scope for illegal immigrants and anti-national agents to legally enrol in the system, depriving real beneficiaries. If the BJP comes to power, we will not only scrap it but also undertake an investigation on the spending of several thousand crores of rupees on the project by the UPA government,” Kumar said during an address.

In a blog post, Nilekani retaliated saying, “I think the dirty tricks of my opponent makes his desperation apparent. Kumar is trying to gain mileage by abusing a government programme which he was himself promoting only a few months ago. He asked just one question on Aadhaar the entire time he was in Parliament. And now, why this sudden concern?”
“He is part of the pro-corruption, anti-development forces who are trying to discredit a powerful anti-corruption effort,” Nilekani added.

Kumar claimed the apex court order had vindicated BJP’s stand on the issue.

“There are too many flaws in the way information is collected under the system and how it may be used exposing citizens to the risk of privacy violation. The BJP had raised these concerns but the UPA government… wasted over Rs 30,000 crore,” he said.

Nilekani countered Kumar’s arguments saying the SC order on Monday was in response to a plea by the UIDAI itself since the agency did not want to share biometric data for a criminal investigation. He said the UIDAI had never termed Aadhaar mandatory.

“It is sad that Ananth Kumar has to resort to such desperate tactics. He is doing this because he has no good record to defend,” Nilekani said.
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