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, April 13, 2015

7760 - States defy SC ruling to make Aadhaar a must in key schemes - Hindustan Times

States defy SC ruling to make Aadhaar a must in key schemes
  • Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times, New Delhi| Updated: Apr 12, 2015 09:32 IST

A man looks on as another puts his hand on a 'Slap Pad' for recording of fingerprints during the data collecting process for a pilot project of Unique Identification Authority of . AFP

Some state governments have made the unique identification, or Aadhaar, number mandatory for basic rights such as employment under a rural jobs scheme and electoral enrolment despite a Supreme Court order that the 12-digit biometric number is not necessary for government entitlements.
Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan are some of the states that have prescribed the Aadhaar number to get government entitlements from April 1, the start of the financial year in India. On March 24, the Apex Court told the Centre to withdraw all instructions linking public service with the Aadhaar number.

But the states have been in overdrive after Prime Minister Narendra Modi asked chief ministers to ensure that all schemes are Aadhaar-based to check leakages and ensure proper monitoring at a meeting of the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog in February.

Madhya Pradesh has instructions that no enrollment for the Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme will be made from April 1 unless the applicant has enrolled for Aadhaar or has a unique identification number.
"The NREGA management information system in MP is refusing to accept work demandsunless the Aadhaar or enrollment number is given. This blatantly illegal denial of work and contempt of SC orders is another attempt to derail the NREGA," said Reetika Khera, who has written several books on the job guarantee scheme.

A Madhya Pradesh government official, however, said it was part of the national drive to bring all government schemes under the Aadhaar platform. "The instructions have come from the Prime Minister's Office in this regard and we are just following the order," the official, who was not willing to be identified, said.

Similarly, in Andhra Pradesh, state electoral officers are refusing to enroll new voters unless they have an Aadhaar number. The Election Commission has set a deadline of August 2015 to embed Aadhaar numbers in the electoral rolls of 820 million voters across India and chief electoral officers have been issued directions to meet the deadline.

"Election Commission officers are balatanly refusing to enroll those who don't have an Aadhaar number in violation of the law which prescribes that a person has to provide age and address as proof for enrollment," said a government official.

Chief Election Commissioner H S Brahma has said an Aadhaar number is not mandatory for enrollment in electoral rolls.
The Andhra Pradesh government has also issued directions that people can seek entitlements, including work under NREGA, only if they have an Aadhaar number. In Visakhapatnam district, about 64,217 people have lost cooking gas subsidies as they failed to submit their Aadhaar numbers on time.
In Himachal Pradesh, officials say, instructions have been issued that the government will not provide any entitlement if the person fails to provide an Aadhaar number. Similar directions have also been issued in Haryana and Rajasthan.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) officials said over 850 million Aadhaar numbers have been generated and they were on track to meet the June 2015 deadline for enrolling all eligible Indian residents for the world's biggest biometric collection mechanism.

CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Posted by
Labels: ,