AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5980 - Aadhaar to be must for passports

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

Friday, November 14, 2014

5980 - Aadhaar to be must for passports - TNN

Aadhaar to be must for passports

Bharti Jain, TNN | Nov 11, 2014, 01.11AM IST

The simplified police verification system seeks to resolve issues raised from time to time regarding prior police verification and consequent delay in issuance of passports.

NEW DELHI: Prior police verification for issue of fresh passports may soon be a thing of the past, with the ministry of external affairs (MEA) proposing to rely on aadhaar card for identification of the applicant and on the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) database for validation of his/her criminal antecedents. With the applicant's self-declaration on aspects like citizenship, criminal antecedents, criminal proceedings, summons/warrants etc also thrown in, the government may soon start issuing fresh passports on a post-verification basis.

The simplified police verification system seeks to resolve issues raised from time to time regarding prior police verification and consequent delay in issuance of passports.

According to the revised modalities proposed by the consular, passport and visa division of the MEA and discussed with the home ministry, law ministry and Intelligence Bureau on Monday, the government is, on the directions of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making Aadhaar card a mandatory requirement for issue of passports. The MEA is already coordinating with UIDAI to implement this, and the process may be completed by the end of this month. In case the applicant does not have an Aadhaar card, his Aadhaar enrolment number should suffice.

Incidentally, the government's proposal to make aadhaar card mandatory for issue of fresh passport, comes in spite of Supreme Court's ruling on September 24 that Aadhaar cannot be mandatory for accessing public services and subsidies.

As regards verification of criminal antecedents of the passport applicant, MEA has been assured by NCRB that it will have a system in place in the next two months, which will help it validate criminal antecedents of the applicant based on NCRB database, before issue of passport.

MEA is of the opinion that the identity of an applicant carrying an aadhaar card or one who has applied for it, is already established to a major extent. Added to this, NCRB's validation and the applicant's self-declaration should be enough to issue a fresh passport on post police verification basis.

As per current practice, passports are issued within a week of receipt of police verification reports. Prior police verification is mandatory for first-time issue of passports, unless applied under tatkal category. In the case of minor applicants, re-issue cases, tatkal applications etc, police verification is either not required or done on post-verification basis.

READ ALSO: Probe into dumping of Aadhar cards in river

For tatkal applicants, additional documents including verification certificate are required. In the case of re-issue, passports are issued without reference to the police, based on self-declaration of the applicant relating to his/her nationality, criminal antecedents, pendency of court proceedings, warrant/summons etc.

As per the new modalities, the applicant may be given the address of the police station responsible for police verification, at the time of issue of passport. This will help him/her actively pursue and complete the process of police verification before undertaking foreign travel.

Any wrong declaration by the applicant would entail impounding or revocation of passport.