AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 7959 - Government shortlists seven candidates for Trai chairman's post

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

Friday, May 15, 2015

7959 - Government shortlists seven candidates for Trai chairman's post - Economic Times

Government shortlists seven candidates for Trai chairman's post

Search on for next chief of telecom regulatory authority as incumbent Rahul Khullar is set to retire today; five secretaries included among frontrunners for position

Kalyan Parbat&Anandita Singh Mankotia

12 May 2015, 11:59 PM IST

KOLKATA | NEW DELHI: The government has shortlisted seven candidates, mostly senior bureaucrats, for the post of chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which falls vacant on Wednesday after retirement of Rahul Khullar.

"Seven candidates including five secretaries to the government of India have been interviewed by the search committee headed by cabinet secretary Ajit Seth last week," a government official told ET on anonymity. In all, 77 aspirants had applied for the position.

This official said shortlisted candidates include Information Technology secretary Ram Sevak Sharma, Information & Broadcasting secretary Bimal Julka, Commerce secretary Rajeev Kher, Defence secretary RK Mathur, Steel secretary Rakesh Singh and former Telecom secretary MF Farooqui.

"Sharma is seen as the frontrunner, and other potential contenders include Julka, Kher and Farooqui," another official aware of the selection process told ET. The final decision will be taken by the PMO. PK Mishra, additional secretary in the PMO is part of the search committee which includes Telecom secretary Rakesh Garg as well.

"The government will have to act fast on this appointment as it would not want the regulatory body to remain headless for a long period, given the fact that a lot of critical issues pertaining to the telecom sector are unresolved," said the first official.

The Trai Act requires the telecom department to seek the regulator's recommendations on each issue. "Even though the Authority can send its recommendations without a chairman, practically, speaking the Authority doesn't make recommendations without a chairman, at least on important issues," the official added.

One of the new chairman's first tasks would be to submit the regulator's recommendations of the controversial net neutrality issue. The authority had initiated the consultation paper on the issue and has completed the process of accumulating the views of all stakeholders.

Telecom industry observers believe Sharma has the best shot of becoming the next Trai chairman. A 1978 batch Jharkhand cadre IAS officer, who doubles up as a techie and code writer, the Information Technology secretary is known to be a quick decision-maker who is driving key policies linked to Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Digital India and local electronics manufacturing initiatives.

Sharma also championed Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric database, alongside Infosys co-founder and former Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani.

Khullar, a former commerce secretary, who retires on May 13, had assumed the reins at Trai back in May 2012 when India's telecoms industry was embroiled in corruption allegations and regulatory uncertainty in the aftermath of the 2G spectrum scam.

He had also stepped into the hot seat at a time when the sector regulator was under attack from mobile carriers for pegging the starting price of spectrum at 10 times what was paid in 2008.