AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 6027 - Government goes all out to roll out Aadhaar

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, November 20, 2014

6027 - Government goes all out to roll out Aadhaar - DNA

Government goes all out to roll out Aadhaar

Monday, 17 November 2014 - 7:35am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

After advancing the final date to complete biometrics for Aadhaar, prime minister Narendra Modi has tasked his trusted aide Nripendra Misra to get cracking and roll out the unique ID numbers for 110 crore citizens within five months.

Misra took a meeting of all stakeholder ministries and RGI and UIDAI on November 6 asking them to finish biometrics collection in all the states by March end, sources said. Incidentally, the sudden push from Modi for Aadhaar, who had given ample indications of not being in favour of Aadhaar but for trusted national population register (NPR) as chief minister of Gujarat, came after UIDAI's erstwhile chief Nandan Nilekani gave him a presentation on the project.

To draw the twin benefits of success in elections and bring down huge burden of subsidies, UPA-II government had pushed for Aadhaar to link up direct benefit transfers (DBT) for targeted schemes but could not deliver it in time because of internal squabbles and gigantic proportions.

Clear in his mind about the kind of benefits can accrue because of Aadhaar, PM Modi does not to repeat the same mistakes. Sources said to push people to get quickly enrol under Aadhaar, the government is expected to link up more and more services with the unique ID.

As the Supreme Court has already ruled that Aadhaar cannot be mandatory for schemes, the government is expected to treat Aadhaar number not as mandatory but preferred or desired mode for quicker delivery of services like it recently did in the case of passports.

Another plan on the cards is paying wages for rural job schemes directly into beneficiary's bank or post office account after linking them with their Aadhaar numbers. This is expected to be implemented from January in 300 districts where 70 per cent of residents already have Aadhaar numbers.

However, a major worry for the government remains states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Assam that have made little progress in Aadhaar enrolment. In Bihar, only 66 lakh Aadhaar numbers out of an estimated 8 crore have been generated so far while in Uttar Pradesh only 2.08 crore people out of a target population of 17 crores have been enrolled. Enrolment is yet to begin in Assam where national register of citizens (NRC) is in progress.

Assembly elections are due in November-December 2015 in Bihar and in March-April, 2017 in Uttar Pradesh. A faster implementation of the project, albeit at the risks of data privacy and security checks, can deliver the BJP what Congress failed to achieve.