AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7252 - Modified DBT in LPG scheme covers over 60% consumers

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 28, 2015

7252 - Modified DBT in LPG scheme covers over 60% consumers - Business Standard

Modified DBT in LPG scheme covers over 60% consumers

Rs 2,262 crore transferred into beneficiary accounts

BS Reporter | New Delhi January 24, 2015 Last Updated at 10:41 IST

The petroleum ministry has managed to cover over 60% of the country’s 150 million Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) consumers under the modified version of the Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG (DBTL) scheme launched nationwide on 1 January.

The scheme, nicknamed Pratyaksh Hastantarit Labh (PAHAL), is the largest cash transfer program in the world. It aims at directly transferring cash subsidy on cooking gas into the bank accounts of consumers thereby weeding out duplication and plug leakages.

“As on date, 90 million consumers have already joined the scheme and will receive subsidy directly into their bank accounts,” according to the petroleum ministry.

The government has so far transferred over Rs 2,262 crore as subsidy and Permanent Advance in over 70 million transactions to the LPG consumers. Overall, a total of Rs 7,269 crore has been transferred as LPG subsidy under the scheme.

The states where the growth in consumers joining the scheme has been maximum (more than 40%) include Odisha, Bihar, Chhattisgarh, UP, Assam and Meghalaya. Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jammu & Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh occupy the second rank, with growth rate of above 35% in number of people joining the scheme.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had earlier this month voluntarily given up use of subsidised LPG, joining a growing list of well-to-do people who have opted to buy cooking gas at market rate. Petroleum minister Dharmendra Pradhan, Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi and power minister Piyush Goyal are among the others who have given up LPG subsidy.

Public sector Oil Marketing Companies (OMCs) have given an option to existing LPG consumers to convert their existing domestic LPG connection into a non-subsidised domestic connection. This can be done by submitting a written request to the distributor or electronically via www.mylpg.in.

The original DBTL scheme was launched by the previous United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government by enabling cash transfer through linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar numbers. The scheme had to be stopped after Supreme Court observed Aadhaar numbers cannot be a proof of citizenship.

The NDA government had restarted DBTL in 54 districts in mid-November of 2014. Under the current scheme, consumers are getting three months of grace period to link their connections with bank account and Aadhaar. Even after March, if their bank account details are not available, they will have to buy LPG cylinders at the market price. But the subsidy will be stored in an escrow account which they will receive as soon as they link their connections.

Under the scheme, linking the beneficiaries’ bank account with Aadhaar is not mandatory even as the government is encouraging consumers to link their connections with both bank accounts as well as the Unique Identification (UID) number. Linking with Aadhaar is expected to weed out fakes and duplicates from the system.

Consumers are currently entitled to twelve 14.2-kg cylinders or 34 five-Kg bottles in a year at subsidised rates. Any requirement above that has to be procured at market price. A subsidised 14.2-kg cylinder is currently available at Rs 417 per bottle in Delhi. The subsidised cooking gas is also available in 5-kg packs, costing Rs 155 per cylinder in Delhi.

India has 152.4 million active LPG customers and around 90 million have already become cash transfer compliant. Of these, 55 million are Aadhar based. In addition, 18.3 million LPG customers had seeded their Aadhaar number with the LPG distributors as on 10 January. The government intends to cover 75% of the eligible customers by 28 February.