AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7515 - 'Falsehood' charge on PM

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 18, 2015

7515 - 'Falsehood' charge on PM - Telegraph of India

'Falsehood' charge on PM

OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

Narendra Modi arrives for

a meeting with Uttar Pradesh

BJP MPs in New Delhi on Tuesday. (PTI)

New Delhi, March 4: The Congress today mounted a scathing attack on Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claiming he had used "half-truths, falsehood, misleading statements and illogic" to establish that most of the UPA's landmark social schemes were begun during the BJP-led regime.

Congress spokesperson Abhishek Singhvi questioned "if the Prime Minister can make false statements on the floor of Parliament and mislead the nation in this brazen manner".

He said it was sad an attempt was made to undermine some of the biggest welfare schemes like the right to education, Food Security Act and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act which rest on legal guarantee.

Singhvi said: "The Prime Minister compared Aadhaar with the multi-purpose identity card scheme. The BJP promised this in its 1999 manifesto but did nothing till 2004. We promised Aadhaar in 2004 and charge to the authority was handed over in 2007.

"The right to education was compared with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan. It is true the Vajpayee government brought the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan in 2001 but this was based on the District Primary Education Programme started by the Congress in 1993 with the same purpose of universal primary education.

"The Congress made education a constitutional requirement through RTE. Is it fair for the Prime Minister to compare this with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan?"

Modi had compared these schemes in the Rajya Sabha yesterday in response to the Congress charge that his government was only renaming and repackaging old schemes.

Singhvi said: "The PM was being economical with the truth. We could have ignored these issues had anybody other than the PM resorted to such falsehood. The PM compared Antodaya Anna Yojna with the Food Security Act. Is that fair? Antodaya, with its minimal implementation, could not even identify the beneficiaries while the food security bill provided a legal guarantee."

The spokesperson also objected to Modi comparing MGNREGA with the Sampoorna Gramin Rojgar Yojna, asking how a legal guarantee for jobs could be compared to any other employment generation scheme.

He said: "The PM also said the Insurance Regulatory Development Act was brought by the Vajpayee government. It is true the bill was passed in 1999 but the idea originated in the Congress regime when the Malhotra committee set up by the P.V. Narasimha Rao government gave its report in 1994. An interim regulatory authority had been set up by the Rao government and even Gowda government wanted to give it statutory status."

Although Modi forcefully argued that the issue was solution to long-pending problems, not credit hunting for schemes, the Congress has decided to corner him on the question of repackaging old schemes. Some Congress MPs are reported to be mulling a privilege motion against him for making purportedly false claims.