AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5652 - Narendra Modi has no problem with Congress on this one, DBT to continue

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

Sunday, July 6, 2014

5652 - Narendra Modi has no problem with Congress on this one, DBT to continue

Narendra Modi has no problem with Congress on this one, DBT to continue

Sunday, 6 July 2014 - 6:05am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Manan Kumar

ARIJIT SEN DNA

Contrary to indications given so far, there are chances that the Congress-led UPA government's mega direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme of giving subsidy to targeted sections of needy people may find favour with the BJP-led NDA government.

According to sources, PM Narendra Modi, who chaired a meeting on the issue on Saturday with finance minister Arun Jaitley, home minister Rajnath Singh and minister of state (planning) Rao Inderjit Singh, wants to continue the scheme.

The meeting was also attended by Union home secretary Anil Goswami and director-general of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Vijay S Madan.

PM Modi seems to have understood the windfall benefits the DBT scheme could bring to it, a source said. He directed that DBT for LPG, pensions and scholarships should be rolled out expeditiously in 300 districts where more than 80% of the district population has already received Aadhaar numbers. The decision would also help the BJP government cut subsidies substantially in the coming budget.

The Congress failed to cash in on the benefits of DBT as it was running against time by starting very late. Also, there was the problem of red tape. The party barely managed to roll out targeted subsidies in a handful of districts, and that too only on a few counts like cooking gas.

Besides containing the huge subsidy flow that failed to reach the vulnerable and deserving sections, the Congress government felt DBT would translate into votes like the NREGA that virtually got the party to power in 2004.

The development could lead to the tabling of the National Identification Authority of India bill in Parliament with some changes to give legal status to the UIDAI that the previous government had set up through an executive order. The source said that the PM has made finance minister, Arun Jaitely the point person to work on the NIAI bill and redraft it.

But this may not mean that the UIDAI would continue to carry on its work of enrolling people as residents by acting as the registrar to take their biometrics because the government is keen on the security aspect as well. It wants to roll out the NPR on the basis of citizenship, the source said.

This could mean, the source said, that the NPR may be given the full mandate to enrol citizens by having control on registering them through security features of biometrics and give UIDAI its original mandate of generating unique identity numbers.

In the meantime, DBT can be rolled out in areas where biometrics has been done by the office of the registrar general of India under the NPR.

One key advantage the BJP government has on its side is time. If it starts enrolment under the NPR now, it can finish it in next three years, including re-verification of Aadhaar cards and replacing them with national identity cards. Simultaneously, it can start getting the benefits of targeted DBT and reach at complete coverage by the time next elections approach.