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, March 11, 2015

7503 - Aadhaar-based SIM sale begins today amid Intelligence Bureau objections - dna India

Wednesday, 4 March 2015 - 5:40am IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: dna | From the print edition


Following strong objections by the Intelligence Bureau to department of telecom (DoT) and unique identification authority of India's (UIDAI) proposal of activating SIM cards simultaneously at the time of purchase by linking it with Aadhaar, the prime minister's office has given clearance for partial roll out of the scheme in six major cities.
  • Ravi Jadhav dna
Following strong objections by the Intelligence Bureau to department of telecom (DoT) and unique identification authority of India's (UIDAI) proposal of activating SIM cards simultaneously at the time of purchase by linking it with Aadhaar, the prime minister's office has given clearance for partial roll out of the scheme in six major cities.

The pilot project will kick start from March 4, 2015 in metros like Delhi, Kolkata, Lucknow and Bangalore that have nearly full Aadhaar penetration and run for six weeks.

It would require the SIM purchaser to give his or her Aadhaar number at the time of purchase and give the digital impression of fingers by pressing them on a machine.

Earlier in October last year, to push ambitious Digital India programme to boost e-commerce, the PMO had agreed in principle to make Aadhaar number mandatory for getting new mobile connection and to retain the existing connection.
Based on IB objections that in an internal security audit had found several discrepancies in Aadhaar such as many ghost accounts, numbers being given on fake names and addresses, the union home ministry had said it would not object to the linking of Aadhaar with SIM if a clause is inserted in the agreement between DoT and service providers to give the identity and address proof of SIM card holder whenever requisitioned.

Informed sources said, the decision to link up SIM cards with Aadhaar for the rest of the country will be taken after finding out the problem areas in the pilot project, and if it is able to meet the concerns flagged by the IB,

All the data that will be generated during the process of the pilot project is expected to be shared with the IB by the telecom operators.

"We want them to have back hand data (like address, identity proof) of all the SIM providers that are linked up with Aadhaar so that when required we can seek the details of a particular SIM user, and to ensure data security by making the telecom operators liable," said sources.

Secure storage and confidential retrieval is one of the biggest challenge in the case of Aadhaar as online tampering is a major issue.

Sources said, they have asked the UIDAI and the DoT to respond to them in writing which they have agreed to but so far their reply has not come.

However, a section in the security establishment thinks that linking Aadhaar with SIM is rather beneficial as this would make the dubious purchase of SIM difficult and would at least generate some real authentic data of biometrics to put the user at unease to use it for anti-national purposes.


"Linking Aadhaar is still a better option as SIM cards currently are purchased on the basis of proofs like voter ID cards, ration cards etc. many of which are fake and are even made for illegal Bangladeshi migrants. Aadhaar linked SIM would rather be stronger verification factor and as it is also being linked with PAN card and bank account numbers, it can be used to trace the financial as well as social whereabouts of a person," an official said.