AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7054 - Centre raps states over food security Act implementation

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

Monday, December 29, 2014

7054 - Centre raps states over food security Act implementation - Live Mint

Centre raps states over food security Act implementation

Will not allow states to avail of subsidies under the above-poverty-line category if they do not complete procedures under NFSA by April 2015, says Paswan Sayantan Bera

A file photo of Union minister Ram Vilas Paswan. Photo:

Mint New Delhi: The ambitious initiative to provide subsidized foodgrains to a vast swath of India’s population is struggling as states go slow on identifying beneficiaries, digitizing records and taking steps for doorstep delivery, forcing the Centre to threaten coercive action to get the ambitious plan rolling.

After a review meeting with food secretaries of states and union territories, Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said many states have requested extending the deadline to implement the National Food Security Act (NFSA), which was enacted last year.

“Even after extending the deadline twice, states have failed to complete formalities. Unless they finish identification and digitization of beneficiary list and Aadhaar seeding with ration cards, in future, we will ensure that food subsidy is availed of by only those who complete the procedures,” Paswan said. “We will not allow states to avail of subsidies under the above-poverty-line (APL) category if they do not complete procedures under NFSA by April 2015,” he added. As of now, only 11 states including Delhi, Haryana, Chandigarh, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh are implementing NFSA.

Others have not yet identified beneficiaries entitled to wheat at Rs.2 per kg and rice at Rs.3 per kg guaranteed under the Act. NFSA entitles 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population to five kilos of food grain per person per month at subsidised rates. When the law was enacted in July 2013, states were asked to finish implementation procedures by June 2014.

The deadline was later extended by six months and has been further extended to 5 April. “Today, Jharkhand informed that they will be ready to implement NFSA by June next year while Odisha said they will take till August 2015,” Paswan said. “Even states which are implementing the Act are yet to complete procedures like end-to-end computerisation of the public distribution system (PDS), seeding of ration cards with Aadhaar card and ensure doorstep delivery of grains.”

The minister said Bihar was yet to complete identification of more than a crore beneficiaries, while Rajasthan and Punjab were yet to take up digitization of records. Maharashtra has seeded only 40% of ration cards with Aadhaar and is yet to take any measures to ensure doorstep delivery.

“We want the system to be transparent. Right now, there is no way to ensure that benefits are reaching the beneficiaries or PDS grains are sold in the open market,” Paswan said, adding, “in the past, poor quality foodgrains supplied under the mid-day meal scheme (meant for school-going children) have been reported widely.”

However, activists say the Aadhaar-ration card linkage is not mandatory. “The NFSA does not require linking Aadhaar cards with ration cards,” said Dipa Sinha, a Right to Food campaigner and fellow at the Centre for Equity Studies in New Delhi. “The centre’s insistence could be a precursor to direct cash transfers. Further, the NFSA does not spell out the criterion for identifying beneficiaries and states like Jharkhand and Odisha may be taking more time as the number of beneficiary under NFSA will double in these states,” said Sinha. In the current financial year, Rs.1.11 trillion is set aside as food subsidy to implement the NFSA and the existing targeted PDS. “The food minister is on the dot with his insistence on digitisation of PDS records,” said Ashok Gulati, chair professor for agriculture at the Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations. “The old system suffers from huge leakages going up to 40% of the food subsidy bill and states must finish procedures before the centre puts more money into a broken bucket.” “To put in place a digitized system with Aadhaar seeding—like in the case of subsidized cooking gas—will enable the transition into a direct cash transfer system in future. This will further help plug leakages,” Gulati added.