AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7684 - Meet soon to debate row over Aadhaar registration

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 30, 2015

7684 - Meet soon to debate row over Aadhaar registration - Deccan Herald

Meet soon to debate row over Aadhaar registration

Mangaluru: March 29, 2015, DHNS

District-in-Charge Minister Ramanath Rai has said that a meeting with the Director of e-governance and IT and BT department director will be convened shortly to discuss on row over Aadhaar registration in Dakshina Kannada district.

Speaking at the tri monthly KDP meeting here on Saturday, Member of the Legislative Assembly J R Lobo and Member of the Legislative Council Ivan D’Souza said that only 30 tokens are issued daily for the enrolling names under Aadhaar. People in Dakshina Kannada district are finding it difficult to enrol their names for Aadhaar cards.

“In fact, in a few Aadhaar enrolment centres, the residents wait for availing token in the wee hours. The tokens get exhausted within a few hours. In fact, agents have come up and started availing tokens for money. There were several glitches in the enrolments process and long queues hinder the process.”

Enrolment centres
Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim said that as per the directions of the government Aadhaar centres were opened in all the 17 Atal Janasnehi Centres. With this, there are 27 Aadhaar enrolment centres in the district.

In addition to the day-to-day work, the existing staff at the Naada kacheri have to enrol the names for Aadhaar, which is a tedious process.

The district administration has submitted a detailed report to the government on the impending problems at the Aadhaar enrolment centres and asked to appoint an operator to look into the works related to Aadhaar enrolment.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sadashiva Prabhu said that about 79 per cent of population have already enrolled their names for Aadhaar in the district. After the centres were opened in Naada kacheri, 6,780 registrations have been carried out.

Shiradi ghat
NH official said that the first phase of the work on 13.620 -km stretch on Shiradi Ghat road will be completed by May end. The movement of vehicles are likely to commence by monsoon.

The tender for the second phase of work for 13-km stretch for concreting and 21-km for asphaltation has been invited. The last date for tender is April 4.

Superintendent of Police Sharanappa said that if it rains, Charmadi Ghat stretch will be a disaster, if no measures are taken to check the eroding of the soil used for widening the road. The officials should focus on improving the Charmadi Ghat stretch.

Deputy Commissioner directed the officials to asphalt the road which has been widened on the stretch before the onset of monsoon.

Bengre residents demand
Raising the issue of residents of Bengre demanding NOC from the Mangalore City Corporation to seek electricity connections, MLA J R Lobo said that the issue needs to be solved by the MCC commissioner and Mescom.

The Mangalore City Corporation can give NOC with a condition that the NOC should be used for the availing electricity connections and not for availing door number or title deeds. KRDCL official said that the work on approach road to Mangalore International Airport will be ready by March end.