AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5890 - Home Ministry praises the Aadhaar project

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, October 23, 2014

5890 - Home Ministry praises the Aadhaar project - Economic Times

Home Ministry praises the Aadhaar project

Aman Sharma, ET Bureau Oct 22, 2014, 04.00AM IST

NEW DELHI: Once a strong critic of the Aadhaar project, the Union home ministry has now effusively praised the project in a letter to all states, saying Aadhaar's biometric identification process eliminates "the threat of any fraud or bogus activity."

The letter sent on September 27 asked states to initiate a drive to enroll all prisoners under the scheme. It followed a directive from Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

"Prisoners should be briefed adequately as to the benefits of obtaining an Aadhaar card before the start of the drive to remove any misgivings about the process," the letter said.

This is a marked shift in the ministry's stand, which has so far pitched for its National Population Register (NPR) project as a more fool-proof mechanism for recording biometric details of citizens.

"Since one Aadhaar is allotted to only one person, it enables the capacity to verify one's identity universally. Aadhaar will allow deprived and needy people in accessing services like banking," the ministry said.

Modi has thrown his weight behind the Aadhaar project, overruling objections from the home ministry that the Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) has overlooked security concerns by handing over the Aadhaar enrolment process to private parties. "Since Aadhaar is based on the demographic and biometric information of an individual, it eliminates the threat of any fraud or bogus activity. Aadhaar will provide its possessor with universal identification," said the home ministry's letter.

The ministry has now also conceded that Aadhaar will be a "single source" of identity verification and give a universal mobility to migrants.

"Aadhaar will facilitate 'anytime, anywhere, anyhow' authentication to its beneficiary.

The benefits of Aadhaar are many. Aadhaar can be used at multiple places to prove one's identity easily. A person's Aadhaar number can be used while opening a bank account as it meets 'know-yourcustomer' norms of RBI, applying for passport, and at many other places where there is a need to give the proof of identity," the letter said.

It added that as more and more government services are going to be linked to Aadhaar, it would be of utility to have an Aadhaar card.

"Aadhaar will, hence, help the poor people to take the benefits of the facilities provided to them by government which could not be accessed by these people earlier. Aadhaar will, thus, become the simplest way of proving one's identity," the letter said.

Regarding enrolling prisoners under Aadhaar, the ministry has said it would be of "immense utility" to offer Aadhaar to them as a welfare measure, since there may be many inmates who may have missed the enrolment process as they were in jail.

"The Tihar Jail has started the enrolment process and received a very good response. The enrolment process is voluntary and there is no compulsion involved as in Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920. Moreover, the data so collected by the UIDAI is not meant for use by the correctional home and is only for the provision of an Aadhaar card to enable the re-integration of the under-trial prisoner or convict on release," the ministry said.