AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7187 - Modified DBT in LPG scheme: Over half of country's consumers covered

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

Wednesday, January 14, 2015

7187 - Modified DBT in LPG scheme: Over half of country's consumers covered - Business Standard

Modified DBT in LPG scheme: Over half of country's consumers covered

FM gives up subsidy on cooking gas

BS Reporter | New Delhi January 10, 2015 Last Updated at 00:34 IST

The government on Friday announced over half the country’s cooking gas consumers, or 76.3 million households, had joined the cash transfer scheme that aimed at reducing the subsidy through better targeting of beneficiaries.

“More than Rs 1,260 crore have been transferred into beneficiary accounts so far. Consumers in rural areas are joining in large numbers. In the last one month more than 40 per cent of consumers in Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Assam and Meghalaya have joined the scheme,” the petroleum ministry said in a statement.

It also said Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, and Arunachal Pradesh had posted above 35 per cent growth in the number of people joining the scheme.

The government started cash transfer of the cooking gas subsidy across the country, or in 676 districts, on January 1 to transfer the subsidy into bank accounts of consumers within 48 hours of delivery of a gas cylinder. The National Democratic Alliance government had started the cash transfer scheme in 54 districts in mid-November.

Consumers have three months to link their gas connections with bank accounts and Aadhaar numbers. After March consumers will have to buy gas cylinders at market prices but the subsidy for the next three months will be kept in an escrow account which they will receive as soon as they provide their bank details.

Linking bank accounts with Aadhaar is not required under the scheme although the government is encouraging consumers to do it. Linking with Aadhaar numbers is expected to weed out duplication.

Aadhaar has enrolled 728 million people and claims to have covered 75 per cent of the population in 16 states and Union Territories, including Kerala, Himachal Pradesh and Delhi.

Cooking gas consumers are entitled to 12 liquified petroleum gas (LPG) cylinders or 34 bottles in a year at subsidised rates. Any purchase beyond these has to be at the market price. A subsidised 14.2 kg LPG cylinder is available for Rs 417 in Delhi and the subsidised 5 kg bottle for Rs 155.

PAHAL, as the scheme has been nicknamed, is the largest cash transfer programme in the world. Similar schemes cover 22 million households in China and 12 million households in Brazil.

Between November 15 and December 31, the sale of subsidised cylinders in 54 districts where the scheme was being implemented grew 9 per cent against 17 per cent in the remaining 622 districts. There are 152.4 million active cooking gas customers, 74.1 million have become compliant with the cash transfer and 52.3 million have linked their Aadhaar numbers.

In addition, 18.3 million customers have seeded their Aadhaar numbers with LPG distributors. The government intends to cover 75 per cent of eligible customers by February 28.