AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5904 - Aadhaar not a worry says Union Home ministry

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, October 29, 2014

5904 - Aadhaar not a worry says Union Home ministry - Deccan Chronicle

Aadhaar not a worry says Union Home ministry - Deccan Chronicle

DC CORRESPONDENT | October 27, 2014, 03.10 am IST

Aadhaar will provide its possessor with universal identification. (It) will facilitate ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ authentication to its beneficiaries (and) be a single source of identity verification.

New Delhi: An Aadhaar number will now be sufficient for the universal identification of the citizen’s identity and can be used to access services like banking facilities.

Clearing the air over the authenticity of the Aadhar number allotted to citizens, the home ministry has said that it can facilitate “anytime, anywhere, anyhow” authentication to its beneficiaries.

Coming out in full support of the Aadhaar scheme, the home ministry has said that since one Aadhaar number is allotted to only one person, it allows universal verification of one’s identity even as it will enable the deprived and needy people to access services like banking facilities.

“Since Aadhaar is based on the demographic and biometric information of an individual, it eliminates the threat of any fraud and bogus activity.

“Aadhaar will provide its possessor with universal identification. (It) will facilitate ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ authentication to its beneficiaries (and) be a single source of identity verification,” the MHA has said in its latest letter to all state governments.

The home ministry’s move has come after the UPA government’s dilly-dallying on the issue. It may be recalled that the home ministry under the UPA regime during the tenures of Sushilkumar Shinde and P. Chidambaram had raised concerns over the sanctity of the Unique Identification Authority of India’s database.

The Union home ministry had raised concerns over supporting documents submitted by people as proof of identity and proof of address for getting an Aadhaar number.

Now, in a complete change of stand, in its latest letter to states, the home ministry has made it clear that the Aadhar number can be used at multiple places to prove one’s identity very easily even as it feels that there are multifold benefits of having an Aadhaar number.

“Aadhaar will give migrants universal mobility of identity. The government can now provide services and facilities to people, especially in the rural areas, in a more effective manner.

“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 to take the benefits or the facilities provided to them by the government which could not be accessed by (them) earlier. Aadhaar will thus become the simplest way of proving one’s identity,” the ministry said.

A person’s Aadhaar number can be used while opening a bank account as it meets the “Know Your Customer” norms of the RBI.

The card can also be used for booking tickets online, applying for passport and at many other places where there is a need to provide some proof of identity.

Notably, the Aadhaar and the National Population Register are national identity programmes of the Central government. The Aadhar scheme is being implemented by the UIDAI.

The NPR is prepared by the Registrar General of India under the home ministry.

“Both collect biometric data covering 10 finger prints, iris scan of both eyes and a photograph. The identity and address of the resident are also identified during the enrolment process.
“Aadhaar provides a unique identity number to every resident in the country. The NPR database is sent to the UIDAI for Aadhaar de-duplication and generating Unique Identity numbers,” the home ministry said.