AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7334 - AADHAAR CARDS A DISTANT DREAM FOR SRINAGAR RESIDENTS

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

Saturday, February 7, 2015

7334 - AADHAAR CARDS A DISTANT DREAM FOR SRINAGAR RESIDENTS - Greater Kashmir

AADHAAR CARDS A DISTANT DREAM FOR SRINAGAR RESIDENTS

4 years and on, UID project nowhere on ground

MUKEET AKMALI

Srinagar, Feb 5: As the multipurpose Aadhaar cards have been issued in other districts of Kashmir, for inhabitants of Srinagar this biometric card is still a distant dream.

While the Centre is contemplating to make multipurpose Aadhaar card mandatory for issuing passports and transferring direct cash subsidies to beneficiaries, the delay in compilation of biometric data in Srinagar has become a cause of agony for local inhabitants.

Sources said in other districts of Kashmir compilation of biometric data and distribution of Aadhaar cards have almost been completed, but in Srinagar district so far not a single card has been issued here.

CEO, Comtech group, Imtiyaz Ahmad who was assigned the job of compiling biometric date in Jammu and other district, said they have issued Aadhaar cards in Jammu and other districts in JK. "

The job of compiling biometric data in Srinagar was issued to some other vendor, and I am not aware why the issuance of biometric cards have been delay in Srinagar district," he said.

Talking to Greater Kashmir, Director Census operation, JK, C S Sapru said: "We have started process for issuing Aadhaar cards in Srinagar. Last month we held a meeting with district administration regarding compilation of data and currently we are training enumerators for compiling for issuing Aadhaar cards".

Sapru said the process has been initiated and soon the data for compiling Aadhaar cards will be completed.

He added that under biometric data collection finger prints and photographs of individual citizens are almost completed in Islamabad, Pulwama, Budgam, Baramulla, Kupwara, Bandipora. The official said the process has been completed in Kulgam, Shopian, Leh and Kargil also. The biometric process has also been completed in district Ganderbal.

Pertinently, Government of India has made it mandatory for people to have Aadhaar cards. “In its absence, people will face immense hardships to get some of the essential services,” said an expert.

“The UID numbers, once in place, would reduce hassle of repeatedly proving identity by various documents to avail services like opening a bank account and obtaining passport or driving license,” experts said.

Aadhaar project was announced with much fanfare in the state in August 2010. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah was the first person to get himself enrolled for UID as the project was launched simultaneously in four districts of Jammu, Srinagar, Baramulla and Ganderbal.

Recently, the Union Oil Ministry has made it mandatory that cash subsidy on cooking gas will be transferred through Aadhaar accounts.

Oil Marketing companies have already started registered customers to DBTL scheme in Jammu and Kashmir. However, in Srinagar in absence of Aadhaar cards, customers are being asked to submit their bank details for time being till the biometric cards are issued to the citizens.

To mention, Government of India is planning to make Aadhaar mandatory for issue of passports and is in the process of establishing a system for validation of criminal antecedents of the applicant.

The issue was discussed threadbare at a meeting between the Ministries of the Home and External Affairs.

The MEA is working with the Unique Identification Authority of India to implement it and the process is expected to be completed by the end of this month.

In the new process, the applicant, if not in possession of an Aadhaar card, has to produce the Aadhaar enrolment number.
The move has been taken up as per the directive of Prime Minister Narendra Modi who has favored faster passport services in a transparent and simplified manner to the citizens.

In a letter to all state governments, the Home Ministry had last month said that since one Aadhaar number is allotted only to one person, it allows universal verification of one's identity.
Since Aadhaar is based on biometric information of an individual, it eliminates the threat of any fraud and bogus activity.