AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7055 - Nandan Nilekani’s home state Karnataka lags in Aadhaar rollout

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 30, 2014

7055 - Nandan Nilekani’s home state Karnataka lags in Aadhaar rollout - Economic Times

Nandan Nilekani’s home state Karnataka lags in Aadhaar rollout

Sowmya Aji, ET Bureau Dec 12, 2014, 05.47AM IST

BENGALURU: Karnataka, the home state of former Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani, is lagging woefully behind in registering citizens for the Aadhaar card. While Delhi tops the list with 104% coverage, Karnataka is 15th among 35 states in terms of coverage. There is a question mark on whether even chief minister Siddaramaiah has an Aadhaar card.

Siddaramaiah, who holds the egovernance portfolio, had directed the e-governance officials to bring the state's 6.11-crore population - according to the 2011 census -- under Aadhaar within June this year. Six months later, 1.47 crore people have still not been registered for Aadhaar.

Officials who have been monitoring the scheme from the past several years, said lack of political patronage has hampered the scheme. An official said that despite the BJP opposing the scheme in the run-up to the recent Lok Sabha election, all three former CMs from that party -- BS Yeddyurappa, DV Sadananda Gowda and Jagadish Shettar --had registered themselves for Aadhaar. The official said: "I am unable to confirm whether Siddaramaiah has an Aadhaar card." Another official said they had offered to send a team to Siddaramaiah's office to register him and his family for Aadhaar. "I am not aware if there was a response from them," he added.

The CM, participating in the legislative assembly session in Belagavi, could not be reached for comment. Still, the department of e-governance, flush with the successful launch of the multi-modal mobile governance app last week, has decided to go all out to ensure that at least 96-98% of citizens are registered by March 2015. "We will meet this deadline by the Planning Commission and our state planning department to complete the registration of citizens," Centre for E-governance CEO Rathan U Kelkar told ET.

Karnataka is aiming to be a trendsetter by rolling out permanent enrollment centres at the taluk, hobli and gram panchayat level as opposed to temporary centres being set up by others.

UIDAI deputy director general Ashok Dalwai told ET: "This example being set by Karnataka has to be lauded. All those who wish to update details, register children's biometrics once they pass the cut-off age of five, or change their name and marital status, can just go to these permanent centres and do it anytime, even after this initial enrollment drive."

Permanent enrollment centres will be opened within two weeks at Bangalore One, Karnataka One and Nada Kutcheris at the hobli level, numbering about 800. A total of 6,500 centres will dot the state once the second phase of the project is completed by April 2015. Raichur, Yadgir, Kalaburgi, Chikballapur and Chitradurga have less than 70% enrollment and officials have asked the egovernance department to concentrate on them.