AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7075 - Flawed system makes checks a grey area

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

7075 - Flawed system makes checks a grey area - TNN

Flawed system makes checks a grey area

Tarini Puri, TNN | Dec 16, 2014, 06.47AM IST

PUNE: Companies in the radio taxi industry woo commuters with catchwords like safety and reliability, but may have dubious drivers in their employ. They are now under pressure to check their background, but the system to conduct such checks is pockmarked.

Police officers and transport authorities keep dinning that since these companies are into public service, they cannot remain indifferent or lax about the verification process.

But the absence of a centralized database of licensed commercial drivers and their antecedents means no cab service company can be entirely sure about their credentials. While many cab firms claim to be doing everything to comply with the police directives to speed up the police verifications of whom they employ, the process is not picture perfect.

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Experts said there is lack of coordination between licence-issuing authorities, police and the criminal justice system within cities and across the country. A thriving network of agents, touts and even individuals who agree to offer 'guarantee' for others for a price mean a driver facing criminal charges in one city or a state can easily obtain an entirely new identity and matching documents in another.

The lacunae in the police verification system means the history of a criminal in one city does not reach those checking for it in another. A stronger all-India verification process is needed and the government must speed up the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems, said retired police officers.

Rajendra Sonawane, retired additional director general of police, Pune, said, "Neither is there uniformity in issuance of driving licences, nor do we have any centralized police records or communication between agencies. Police verifications are done in a lethargic manner. A database of the criminal justice system, police records and biometrics of all drivers should be compiled and made available online. Unless this happens, verification of credentials is difficult."

Companies said they will to do all for the safety of their clients and speed up verifications. Anand Subramanian, director of marketing communication at Ola, said, "We have already initiated thorough background verification checks for every driver on our platform and are working with the local police authorities to complete it. We conduct our own checks including verifying the drivers' licence, car ownership documents, taxi permit, bank account and PAN card."

Delays in police verifications is common, said Arun Kharat, founder director of Wings Travels Management India Pvt. Ltd. "With drivers in Pune coming from neighbouring districts like Sangli, Satara, Karad and Ahmednagar, police verifications take as long as two to three months. The status of some files is not clear even after a long wait. We don't hire such applicants," he added.

One way would be to set up a central database, said Siddhartha Pahwa, chief executive officer, Meru Cabs Co Pvt Ltd. "We urge the regulators to formulate a central database of all commercial licence holders and link it to their Aadhaar cards and criminal records to instantly identify the black-listed ones. Cab operators should have access so that a driver terminated by one should not get hired by another," he added.

Sanjay Patil, deputy commissioner of police, foreigners' registration office (FRO), and in charge of the verifications said, "We have made it mandatory to link the Aadhaar numbers of all applications for their police verification so that their antecedents can be checked. It is a lengthy and time-consuming process, but unless companies get a clearance from us, they cannot hire drivers. This we hope will mitigate all the problems."