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

5986 - Aadhaar to Make Passport Issuance Hassle-Free and Ease Life for Pensioners - IB Times

Aadhaar to Make Passport Issuance Hassle-Free and Ease Life for Pensioners
In a relief to over a crore pensioners, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday launched "Jeevan Pramaan" – an Aadhar-based digital life certificate – which will be rolled out soon. 

The government is working towards easing lives of crores of Indian citizens by making use of Aadhaar identification in issuance of passport and pensions for the retired government employees.

While the government has decided to do away with prior-police verification for issuing fresh passport with Aadhaar identification card, soon the pensioners too will not be required to submit physical "life certificate" each year as they can simply submit a digital report from anywhere in the country.

The department of electronics and information has already developed a software required to facilitate the process. The software application will help the pensioners enter their Aadhaar number and biometric details by plugging in an inexpensive biometric reading device into their smartphone or personal computer, The Times of India reported.

After entering the Aadhaar number, the date, time and "biometric information will be uploaded to a central database on real-time basis", which the pension disbursing agencies will be able to access as digital life certificates.

For those living in remote and inaccessible areas, common service centres being operated under the National e-Governance Plan will be equipped with the aforesaid facility.

This will come as a huge relief to those who live on pensions and are required to go in person to the pension disbursing agency to submit a physical life certificate issued by Central Pension Accounting Office (CPAO) authorised person in November each year to continue receiving pensions.

It's not just the senior citizens who would benefit from Aadhaar. Every Indian will be relieved from the delay in passport issuance that often takes time due to prior-police verification. When implemented, the applicant will need to compulsorily put in his Aadhaar card number or Aadhaar enrolment number, if card has not been issued.

Ministry of external affairs' consular, passport and visa division pitched in this idea before home ministry, law ministry and Intelligence Bureau and held a discussion on Monday. Following this, the MEA asked the UIDAI to work on its implementation which is expected to be over by the end of November.

While the verification of applicant's identification and citizenship will be carried out with the details on Aadhaar, his crime records will be verified on the National Crime Records Bureau's (NCRB) database. The police verification, in this case, will be done after issuing the passport, according to the TOI report.

At present, a fresh or first-time passport is issued only after police verification, which is either not required or carried out post issuance in case of minor applicants, tatkal applications and re-issue.


The central government's efforts to make the passport issuance procedure hassle-free for its citizens and to do away with senior citizens' trouble of getting a life certificate to continue availing pension, will come as a greater relief for majority of India's population.
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