AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7004 - BJP Makes U-turn on Its Stand on Aadhaar Issue

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

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

7004 - BJP Makes U-turn on Its Stand on Aadhaar Issue - New Indian Express

BJP Makes U-turn on Its Stand on Aadhaar Issue

By Ramu Patil

Published: 01st December 2014 06:04 AM

BENGALURU: In the run-up to the Lok Sabha election, the BJP had termed Aadhaar as a ‘fraud’ perpetrated on the country and pledged to review its continuation if voted to power.

The subject was hotly debated in Bengaluru South, where Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani unsuccessfully contested against BJP national general secretary H N Ananth Kumar, now the minister for chemicals and fertilisers in Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Cabinet. Contrary to claims made during the heat of electioneering, the BJP government is taking measures to strengthen the project and link it with various services.

“Our stand has been vindicated,” said a member of Nilekani’s core group. “We congratulate the prime minister for taking an apolitical decision on the national project,” he said.

The BJP leaders had raised several concerns such as the authenticity of data collected and the alleged grant of Aadhaar cards to illegal immigrants.

“During the tenure of the UPA government, the data collected was not verified properly. Now, verification and authentication of data is being done,” Ananth Kumar told Express.

On the continuation of the project, which was an issue during the election, he said: “The government has spent a lot of money on creating the database. We cannot allow it to go waste. We have to set right the anomalies to use the data. That process is on now.”

According to the minister, information collected for various government schemes and services will be used to authenticate the data. The government spent over `4,200 crore on the project, including the creation of infrastructure to collect and store data.

Meanwhile, the UIDAI is steadily going ahead with its enrollment drive and working with various agencies to ensure that demographics collected for issuing the Unique Identity Number are used in other services like passport, bank accounts and NREGA.

‘’Know Your Resident’ (KYR), which includes details like name, age and address, are collected while issuing the Aadhaar number. It can be used as KYC while opening bank accounts. “Reserve Bank of India has approved it, and it helps to reduce the time taken to produce and verify such basic details, especially for poor people who may not have other identify proofs,” said a senior UIDAI officer.

The KYR will soon be used by passport offices too. “Once the applicant gives his or her Aadhaar number and the finger print or iris as approval to access their details, the officials at the passport office will be able to immediately download all details from the UIDAI database,” the officer added.

Meanwhile, sources in the Ministry of External Affairs Ministry said that as of now, passport offices are not equipped to access demographic details directly from UIDAI database. “Suitable measures will be taken depending on the decision at the government level,” they added.

Full Coverage by 2016

UIDAI has an ambitious target of providing unique identity numbers to all citizens by 2016. Currently, 70 crore people are covered and now the focus of the project is on north Indian states including Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

In Karnataka, 4.76 crore people have Aadhaar card numbers. “The enrollment drive is on to cover people who have not got the Aadhaar numbers. We have also been working with the departments to provide Aadhaar numbers to prisoners and children,” UIDAI Deputy Director General Ashok Dalwai told Express. “The process is also on to open permanent registration centres in Karnataka,” he said.