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 30, 2014

5915 - Edu dept devises its own UID, brings school children online - Pune Mirror

Edu dept devises its own UID, brings school children online


By Pallavi Smart, Pune Mirror | Oct 28, 2014, 02.30 AM IST

State school education wing all set to come up with a program that will record every detail of a student throughout school life and make it accessible at the click of a mouse, making paperwork non-existent.

In what will come as a relief to all, detailed records of each student from all schools in Maharashtra will soon be given one unique ID and the information will be accessible at the click of a mouse. The state's school education department is preparing one-of-its-kind software following which there will be no need to fill in applications for any examinations during schooling like board exams and scholarship exams. Nobody will have to submit a caste certificate repeatedly or slog to acquire a school leaving certificate as all of it will be available at a click.

The project, ready for launch by December-end, will make Maharashtra the first state to offer such integrated information. Launched under the guidance of commissioner of education S Chokalingam, the system will have integrated database of over two crore children across the state irrespective of boards, aided or unaided and government or private schools. It will have a column for personal information — which also includes the third sex in the gender column following the Supreme Court ruling, information about schools, academics, fitness, achievements and detentions of each student. Schools will be responsible for uploading the data and while factual information like family details etc will be permanent, categories like fitness records, academic records etc. will have to be updated by schools. National Informatics Centre (NIC) is providing technical support for the software.

"We are going to begin data entry for students from all classes," said Chokalingam. "Over the years, we will have detailed information of the entire school life of each student. Further, we also have plans to include the higher education details as well."

EXHAUSTIVE CATAGORIES

Categories like community, caste will be included as well as complete educational record of a student will be mentioned - starting from changes in schools and comprehensive evaluation by teachers. It will also have a column for achievements to aid government scholarships. Fitness details will include information of each child's height, weight, blood group, disability etc. It will also include information regarding illness to aid medical help scheme for children. The database will be integrated with the Unique Identification Number (UID number) mentioned on the Aadhaar card.

"The financial investment is not major as the software is being developed by NIC. Total cost is expected to be around Rs 50 lakh," added Chokalingam. 

The ambitious project has been welcomed by schools in the city.

Harishchandra Gaikwad, Pune spokesperson for the Maharashtra State Secondary and Higher Secondary School Principals' Association, said, "It is a very positive move. Though at the beginning, data entry will be a huge task, eventually it will become routine. However, my request to the government will be to have limited access to this website considering students' safety. Even in schools, only one trustworthy person should be in charge of the data."

Applauding the process, Jayashree Venkatraman, principal of SNBP international School, said, "Schools already have all this data on paper. This will be of great help to acquire a student's complete data during transfers."
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