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

7057 - List of items under preferential market access to be expanded - Business Standard

List of items under preferential market access to be expanded
Department of electronics will also write to ministries to enforce the policy more strongly

Surabhi Agarwal  |  New Delhi  December 13, 2014 Last Updated at 22:48 IST


A new set of items is expected to be notified under the preferential market access (PMA) policy, which reserves a certain percentage of government procurement for domestically manufactured goods. This is in line with the central government’s ‘Make in India’ push. Currently, the list includes items like desktops, laptops, tablets, dot matrix printers and smart cards.

The department of electronics and information technology is also deliberating on ways to ensure the enforcement of the policy is done much more strongly. Since the government at the Centre is on a drive to make Aadhaar-based authentication the core of most government schemes, it is being contemplated that biometric authentication devices will be included under PMA. One of the first initiatives of the government — after it came to power earlier this year — was to initiate biometric-based attendance system for all central government employees. This required Aadhaar-based biometric devices to be installed in all government ministries.

According to a senior government official, new set of items will be added to the existing list of 16 products under the compulsory registration order. These will require a quality certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and include items like mobile phone batteries, LED lights, etc. “A revised policy of modified special incentives package scheme (M-SIPS) is likely to be finalised in the next two months,” the official added. The policy, which provides an extension to the existing sops, is aimed to be more investor-friendly and also extends its ambit to include white goods as well.

The government provides a subsidy of 20-25 per cent on capital expenditure for manufacturers of electronics under 26 categories. This did not earlier include what are termed ‘white goods’, such as washing machines and refrigerators.

A national centre of excellence on large area flexible electronics is also coming up at the Indian Institute of Technology — Kanpur and the government is in the process of finalising a policy on ‘internet of things’ (IoT). The aim of the policy is to create an IoT industry, worth $15 billion, in India by 2020. It has been assumed India would have a share of 5-6% of global IoT industry.

All these measures are aimed at creating a favourable ecosystem for electronics manufacturing in the country, as India currently imports a large portion of its electronic needs, widening the current account deficit.

The government also approved the policy for an electronic development fund to invest in electronics and information technology entrepreneurial ventures.

The fund, like a ‘fund of funds’, will invest in companies operating in four areas — electronic system & design, manufacturing, nano-electronics, and information technology. The professionally managed fund will provide risk capital to companies developing technologies in these areas.

The corpus of this open-ended fund will be managed by Sidbi or a similar financial institution, and the government’s investment will be decided on a case-to-case basis, determined by market dynamics.

It is expected to act as a catalyst for attracting foreign funds in these companies, as government investment in these ventures will give assurances to foreign companies.


ROAD MAP OF THE DEPT
  • A new set of items will be added to the existing list of 16 products under the compulsory registration order
     
  • These will require a quality certification from the Bureau of Indian Standards and include items like mobile phone batteries and LED lights, among others
     
  • A national centre of excellence on flexible electronics is also coming up at the Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur and the government is in the process of finalising a policy on ‘internet of things’
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