AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5502 - SC to focus on 'right to privacy' issue in Niira Radia tapes

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, April 30, 2014

5502 - SC to focus on 'right to privacy' issue in Niira Radia tapes - TNN

SC to focus on 'right to privacy' issue in Niira Radia tapes

Dhananjay Mahapatra,TNN | Apr 30, 2014, 03.16 AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would first conclude hearing on the right to privacy issue arising out of the Niira Radia tapes and explore possible criminality indicated in the intercepted telephone conversations later.

The SC had ordered a CBI probe six months ago into possible illegalities indicated in former corporate lobbyist Radia's tapped conversations with politicians, industrialists and journalists. The October 17 order by a bench headed by Justice G S Singhvi (since retired) had the potential of the probe agency looking at some high-value deals linked to big corporate houses headed by Mukesh Ambani, Anil Ambani and the Tatas.

On Tuesday, a bench of Justices H L Dattu, J S Khehar and R K Agrawal said the right to privacy issue raised by Ratan Tata, erstwhile chairman of Tata group, was more important and it would like to conclude hearing on the petition. It framed three issues on right to privacy and posted it for hearing in August.

The three issues are: "citizen's right to privacy vis-a-vis government, right to privacy vis-a-vis media and right to know information". "Other issues regarding criminality and illegality in various contracts which have come out in recorded conversations of one person with others will be taken up for hearing after completion of hearing on the three issues framed above," the bench said.

Tata had petitioned the apex court in 2010 in the wake of excerpts of Radia's intercepted conversations appearing in sections of the media and had sought protection of his right to privacy.

In its October 17 order, the court had described eight deals involving corporate biggies and others as "prima facie indicative of deep rooted malaise in the system of which advantage has been taken by private enterprises in collaboration/connivance with government officers and others".

The deals were among 17 issues identified by a special team set up by the apex court in February last year to scan tapes for possible instances of criminality. These are, of course, not proven instances of collusion or corruption. It is that the court had prima-facie found sufficient reason for a more detailed probe into these deals. These deals are:

* Supply of low-floor buses by Tata Motors to Tamil Nadu government under the Centre's JNNURM scheme

* Appointment of Pradip Baijal, ex-chairman of Trai, as chairman of Pipeline Advisory Committee

* Allotment of coal blocks to Anil Ambani group's Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project

* Allotment of iron ore mines at Ankua, Singhbhum district of Jharkhand, to Tata Steel

* Favours shown by V K Sibal, then director general of hydrocarbons to RIL and quid pro quo received

* Fudging of subscribers base/record by Reliance Communications, an ADAG company, and submission of the same to Bombay Stock Exchange and Trai to save money

* Working of touts and middlemen and kickbacks in the aviation sector

* Market manipulation and hammering of stocks of Unitech.

"The conversations between Ms Niira Radia and her associates with various persons suggest that unscrupulous elements have used corrupt means to secure favours from government officers, who appear to have acted for extraneous considerations," the court had said and set a 60-day deadline for CBI to look into the controversial deals.