AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 6085 - Inter-state council, planning and monitoring division & UIDAI to merge to replace plan panel

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

Sunday, November 30, 2014

6085 - Inter-state council, planning and monitoring division & UIDAI to merge to replace plan panel - Economic Times

Inter-state council, planning and monitoring division & UIDAI to merge to replace plan panel

Yogima Sharma, ET Bureau Nov 26, 2014, 07.04AM IST

NEW DELHI: The new institution that will replace the Planning Commission is likely to be a combination of three key divisions, each headed by a secretary and placed under the umbrella of a more powerful planning ministry. These divisions include the inter-state council, planning and monitoring division and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which, along with direct benefit transfer or DBT will have a critical role in implementing Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision.

Senior government officials told ET that the government is considering consolidation of these divisions under the ministry of planning, presently headed by a minister of state with independent charge Rao Inderjit Singh, and a decision to this effect could be taken before the end of this year.

"The PM is of the view that the states should play a greater role in planning and hence the proposal is to move the inter-state council from home ministry to Yojana Bhawan to oversee development works of the state," an official said.

Besides, the new government is keen on eventually linking Aadhaar with DBT platform, which will require greater synergy between the two, the official said, adding, "Hence, it has been decided to shift out DBT from finance ministry to the new institution." According to the official, who did not wish to be named, the third vertical or division will be a new one that will be responsible for long-term planning for the country as well as evaluation of flagship social sector schemes through an existing but much stronger programme evaluation organisation existing within the commission.

"While all the three divisions will be headed by a secretary, the government may rope in experts at the advisor level to strengthen the planning and monitoring division," the official added.

As per the proposal, the interstate council, which is headed by the prime minister, will be responsible for routing the state plans to finance ministry besides coordinating with central ministries on all developmental schemes of the states. However, the security issues that were being handled by the council will continue to be vested with the home ministry.

An email query sent to planning secretary Sindhushree Khullar did not elicit any response. Until last year, annual plans of the states were finalised by the Planning Commission after consultation with the finance ministry and the funds were routed through the commission. However, since the BJP-led NDA government, which took charge in May, decided to replace the institution with a new one, the work of allocation of funds to states has been moved to the finance ministry.

The UIDAI, which is an attached office of the Planning Commission, is responsible for generating Aadhaar or a unique identity for all by March 2015. Once the target is achieved, the government is thinking of making Aadhaar mandatory for doling out benefits under its social security schemes through a DBT platform and hence it has decided to move DBT out of finance ministry to the commission for better synergy and coordination between the two.