AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 5981 - Aadhaar likely to be mandatory for issuance of passport

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

5981 - Aadhaar likely to be mandatory for issuance of passport - Economic Times

Aadhaar likely to be mandatory for issuance of passport

PTI Nov 11, 2014, 05.27AM IST

NEW DELHI: Government is planning to make Aadhaar mandatory for issue of passports and is in the process of establishing a system for validation of criminal antecedents of the applicant.

The issue was discussed threadbare at a meeting between the Ministries of the Home and the External Affairs, official sources said today.

The MEA is working with the Unique Identification Authority of India to implement it and the process is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

In the new process, the applicant, if not in possession of an Aadhaar card, has to produce the Aadhaar enrolment number.

The move has been taken up as per the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has favoured faster passport services in a transparent and simplified manner to the citizens.

A number of complaints are being received regularly by the government related to police verification for passports and consequent delay in issuance of the travel document.

The MEA had a meeting with the National Crime Record Bureau, under the Home Ministry, and the latter confirmed that they will be able to establish a system for validation of criminal antecedents of the applicant.

"NCRB has confirmed that they will be able to set up the validation mechanism within two months. Once this is established, the criminal antecedents of the applicants for all categories will be validated on NCRB database before passport issuance," an official note prepared on the issue said.

The MEA is of the view that when an applicant already has an Aadhaar card or has applied for, his identity to a major extent is established -- this needs to be confirmed by UIDAI.

Therefore, based on NCRB validation and the applicant's self declaration on the aspects of citizenship, criminal antecedents, criminal proceedings, summons/ warrants etc. the passport can be issued on post-police verification basis.

While granting the passport, the applicant will also be given the address of police station which is responsible for the police verification so that the applicant can also actively pursue and complete the process of verification before travelling abroad.

"In the event of any wrong declaration by the applicant, the passport will be impounded/ revoked as per specified procedure," the note said.

Though all the applicants in their passport application forms specifically declare information relating to their nationality, criminal antecedents, pendency of court proceedings, warrants/ summons etc. over a period of time, the government agencies, institute the police verification mechanism to verify the provisions that have been referred in the Passport Act.

The present practice is that police verification is required for issue of fresh passports if the applicant does not apply under the Tatkal category.

For the Tatkal category, additional documents, including verification certificate, are required. Also, in the case of re-issue passports, passports are issued without reference to the police, based on the self declaration of the applicants.

After the receipt of police verification reports, passports are issued within a week. Passports are also issued within a week of application in respect of minor applicants, re-issue cases, Tatkaal etc. in which police verification is not required or is done on post-verification basis.

The move came after a U-turn by the Home Ministry from its earlier stand and coming out in full support of Aadhaar scheme saying it will facilitate "anytime, anywhere, anyhow" authentication to its beneficiaries.

In a letter to all state governments, the Home Ministry had last month said that since one Aadhaar number is allotted only to one person, it allows universal verification of one's identity.

"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 Home Ministry had said.

The ministry's stand on Aadhaar is in complete reversal of the position taken by it under two predecessors of Home Minister Rajnath Singh -- Sushilkumar Shinde and P Chidambaram.

During the UPA regime, the Home Ministry had raised concerns over the sanctity of the the Unique Identification Authority of India's database, saying uniqueness of identity was not a necessary condition for ensuring authenticity of identity or genuineness of other entries or records of Aadhaar numbers.

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