AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 6076 - Six months of Modi government: Six big ideas

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 27, 2014

6076 - Six months of Modi government: Six big ideas - Business Standard

Six months of Modi government: Six big ideas

Jan Dhan Yojana, Swachh Bharat, Make in India among initiatives launched by the govt

BS Reporter November 24, 2014 Last Updated at 10:06 IST

The six big ideas floated by the Narendra Modi government in his six months in office:

Jan Dhan Yojana

With a substantial section of society still outside the ambit of the formal financial system, the recent initiative which aims to bring the excluded into the banking system over the next few years is a laudable one. But legitimate concerns remain. For one, access to banking services may not translate to usage as the poor may simply opt against engaging with the system. Concerns also exist about the financial viability of maintaining such accounts. But if coverage is extended, especially to the rural poor, then in conjunction with the Aadhaar platform, it could facilitate a shift towards cash transfers.

Swachh Bharat

A brilliant event manager,” L K Advani said of former protégé Narendra Modi in April. On October 2, Modi showed how he is arguably the most-skilled mass communicator among Indian leaders. He chose Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary to pick up a broom and launch the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan. Few remembered how Swachh Bharat was in fact the repackaged Nirmal Bharat sanitation programmes launched by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-led NDA government and Manmohan Singh-led UPA governments. But Modi is the first PM to take up the cause of cleanliness with such conviction and vigour. He has attempted to make a mass movement out of an issue that affects not only people’s health but is also an attack on social ills like untouchability and manual scavenging.

Make in India

While successive governments have acknowledged the need to raise the share of manufacturing in GDP, there has been a mismatch between policies and the rhetoric. The new government’s innovative Make in India campaign signals its commitment to transforming India into the manufacturing hub of the world. The importance of manufacturing stems from the fact that the sector can serve as a source of employment for the bulk of unskilled and semi-skilled workers currently engaged in the agricultural sector. But the success of this initiative depends on the degree to which the government can provide an enabling environment by improving the ease of doing business in India.

Death of the Planning Commission

The death of the Planning Commission, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi from the ramparts of Red Fort, is probably the biggest symbolic break from the Nehruvian socialist era. Derided as a “parking lot” for political cronies and superannuated civil servants by Arun Shourie, the Commission was often accused of being insensitive to the problems of states. While the relevance of the Commission in an increasingly market-oriented economy is debatable, whether the new organisation proposed in its place will be more in tune with realities or not remains to be seem. To what extent it succeeds in making states “equal partners” in the decision-making process remains to be seen.

Digital India

In his first Independence Day speech, the prime minister captivated the youth by talking of his dream of a Digital India by 2019. Whether its e-governance, broadband for all, IT-enabled education or telemedicine, the Digital India plan is meant to cover it all. To begin with, the government is working on a ~500-crore plan, and has already initiated biometric attendance in government offices. Delivery of government services through a unified portal has been planned under it. Recently, Aadhaar-based digital life certificates called Jeevan Pramaan were launched for pensioners. The goal is to simplify the process of pension payments. India must first get a seamless broadband and wi-fi connectivity up to the last mile, for the plan to actually work.

Smart Cities

One of the ideas from the BJP poll manifesto, this saw early action. In its first Budget in July, this government allocated ~7,060 crore for smart cities, though the initial estimate for the project was ~35,000 crore per annum. The plan is to build 100 smart cities in India over a period of time. Smart cities are broadly defined as urban spaces that are technologically integrated, well-planned and environment-friendly. It’s a long-term project and could well be spread over 10 years or more, officials say. A flexible PPP (public-private partnership) model is being worked out; many countries including the US, Japan and Singapore, have committed to play a role. Critics say power outages, poor infrastructure and dearth of clean drinking water may play spoilsport.