AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7469 - Aadhaar must for rural scheme jobs

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

Monday, March 2, 2015

7469 - Aadhaar must for rural scheme jobs - Telegraph India

Aadhaar must for rural scheme jobs
BASANT KUMAR MOHANTY

New Delhi, Feb. 27: The Centre has made Aadhaar enrolment a must for workers seeking employment under the rural job scheme in 287 districts of the country from April 1.

The move has come in spite of a 2013 Supreme Court ruling that registration for Aadhaar numbers is voluntary. The 287 districts, four of which are in Bengal, have been chosen as Aadhaar penetration is said to be high in these districts.

Last week, the rural development ministry issued a directive to states that workers under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act would be paid wages through direct benefit transfer. Under this system, the bank or postal account of a worker would be electronically linked to his/her Aadhaar number.

The letter, issued by joint secretary R. Subrahmanyam on a diktat from the PMO, said a worker's Aadhaar number or EID number (enrolment ID number given at the time of registration) would be noted at the time of application for work in the MGNREGA database.

"In case any worker has not yet enrolled for Aadhaar, it shall be the responsibility of the block development officer to arrange to escort such worker to the nearest permanent enrolment centre and get the enrolment done," the letter said.

The rural development secretary of a state said only 60-70 per cent people had been covered under Aadhaar. It was not possible to enrol the remainder by April 1.

"This order is arbitrary. The Centre gives one month's time to include people who don't have Aadhaar cards. Already, officials are busy with implementation of various schemes. It also depends on the convenience of the people who have to be taken to the Aadhaar registration centre," the officer said.

Social activist Nikhil Dey said according to the Supreme Court's September 2013 order, the Centre could not make Aadhaar mandatory for delivery of any welfare scheme.

"The move is a violation of the apex court ruling. Aadhaar cannot be imposed on MGNREGA workers," he said.

"This is another way of restricting the implementation of the scheme," he added, recalling that the Centre had earlier planned to cut down MGNREGA coverage to about 200 districts from around 625 at present.

Social activist Shekhar Singh said those without Aadhaar cards were likely to be the poorest of the poor and they would be further marginalised by the government decision.

"The MGNREGA is a rights-based scheme which guarantees employment for all residents in India. It does not say that residents must have an Aadhaar number," Singh said.

Official sources said the Centre's move aimed at checking large-scale corruption in the scheme. The rural development ministry had been getting complaints about ghost job-card holders and of wages being paid to workers who disappeared after marking attendance, they said.

The ministry plans to start mobile monitoring of the scheme from April, an official said. According to the proposal, cellphones would be provided to 35,000 gram panchayats so that officials could upload real-time pictures and MGNREGA data from work sites. This would hopefully take care of all irregularities, the official said.