AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5856 - Only 70.5% LPG users in district linked to Aadhaar

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, September 11, 2014

5856 - Only 70.5% LPG users in district linked to Aadhaar - TNN

Only 70.5% LPG users in district linked to Aadhaar

V Kamalakara Rao, TNN | Sep 9, 2014, 10.19AM IST

VISAKHAPATNAM: With the deadline for the registration of Aadhaar cards of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) consumers drawing to a close on September 7 (Sunday), only 70.5% of the 8.4 lakh LPG consumers in district have been enrolled with the LPG dealers of different oil and gas marketing companies like Indian Oil Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited and Bharat Petroleum Corporation Limited.

The state government decided to link Aadhaar cards to LPG supply as well as 20-odd welfare schemes to eliminate bogus beneficiaries.

However, officials of the department of civil supplies as well as LPG dealers attributed their failure to complete the enrollment on time to various reasons, including bogus LPG connections, consumers holding multiple connections, bogus beneficiaries of Deepam scheme and even some genuine LPG consumers not having Aadhaar numbers.

They suspect that more than 90% of the yet-to-be-enrolled LPG consumers to be bogus. The price of a non-subsidised LPG cylinder is Rs 963, but the government is currently providing an LPG cylinder for Rs 434.50.

"Nearly 30% of the 8.4 lakh consumers have not submitted their Aadhaar numbers till date. This means that nearly 2.52 lakh LPG consumers are misusing the subsidy of Rs 13,31,82,000," explained an LPG dealer of IOC.

According to officials from the department of civil supplies, only 69% of the total 5,89,072 LPG consumers in Visakhapatnam city limits, falling under 26 LPG dealers of various oil companies, registered their Aadhaar numbers as on Monday, September 8. Similarly, in Visakhapatnam rural limits, only 72% of the total 2.5 lakh LPG connection holders have registered their Aadhar numbers with their respective dealers. Overall, only the linkage of 70.5% LPG consumers with Aadhaar numbers has been completed till date, they admitted.

A gas dealer from Gajuwaka, who refused to be named, blamed it on the inabilility of the government to be stringent in the matter. "Though the decision to link Aadhaar cards with LPG supply to weed out bogus consumers is good, the government failed to announce a clear cut deadline with strict instructions to LPG dealers not to supply cylinders to those not submitting their Aadhaar numbers due to the Supreme Court directive. That is why consumers are not worried," he said.

On the other hand, O Sridhar, executive member of AP LPG Dealers' Association, said though the department of civil supplies and the LPG dealers were making sincere efforts to collect Aadhaar numbers, the fact that many genuine consumers have not yet got their Aadhaar numbers is posing a hurdle. "Nearly 10% of the LPG consumers do not have Aadhaar numbers." When contacted, Y Narasimha Rao, additional joint collector, said the process of issuing Aadhaar numbers is progressing rapidly with nearly 90% of the district's population having Aadhaar numbers.