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

7960 - eGovWatch: Infrastructure for Digital India - Financial Express

eGovWatch: Infrastructure for Digital India
By Express Computer on May 13, 2015


- See more at: http://computer.financialexpress.com/magazine/egovwatch-infrastructure-for-digital-india/11869/#sthash.RCGtpIC8.dpuf

“To implement various projects under Digital India, all feasible models are being considered, with the active participation of industry, including PPP models,” says Dr Rajendra Kumar, Joint Secretary, Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Communications & Information Technology, Government of India. In conversation with Express Computer

It has been estimated that in the Digital India programme, government of India will spend up to Rs. 1,13,000 crore in the next three to five years. What are the key features of the programme?

In order to reform and improve the ecosy stem of public services in the country, the government of India has initiated the ‘Digital India’ programme. The vision of this programme is to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. There are three key vision areas in the overall ‘Digital India’ Programme—Digital infrastructure as an utility to every citizen; Governance and services on demand; Digital empowerment of citizens.

The ‘Digital India’ programme will lead to the building of holistic capabilities in ICT infrastructure; electronics manufacturing; software services and delivery platforms; IT skill-sets and job creation; and many other areas. These capabilities will lead to the rise of a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. The focus is on ensuring that the citizens in all parts of the country have easy access of a range of necessary services. Digital India will also make it much easier for businesses to  do their work. Most of the initiatives under ‘Digital India’ programme will be completed in the next three years.

To make this initiative successful, active participation of industry is very crucial. The Department of Electronics & IT (DeitY) has conducted several consultations and workshops with the industry and experts to discuss the implementation of the vision areas of Digital India. To implement various projects under Digital India, all feasible modes of implementation are being considered, with the active participation of industry, including PPP models.

What steps are being taken to ensure that broadband is rolled out to all the villages and the task of digitising government records is completed in a time-bound manner?

 “Digital infrastructure as a utility to every citizen” is one of the three vision areas of Digital India. A key component of this vision is the “availability of high speed internet as a core utility for delivery of services to citizens”. Through the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project, high-speed connectivity will be provided to every gram panchayat. The optical fibre cable will be taken to each of the 2,50,000 gram panchayats in the country, for providing high speed connectivity.

Another element in the third vision area of the digital empowerment of citizens is“Universally accessible digital resources”. This is aimed at digitisation of government records. Citizens will not be asked to present government documents or certificates, which are already available with some department or institution of the government, in physical form. For instance, the educational institutions will ensure that all their degrees and certificates are digitised and kept in online repositories with appropriate protocols for secure access through Internet.

We are planning to provide broadband in rural areas, but even in urban areas the broadband penetration is low. What steps are being taken to ensure that there is high quality broadband for all at reasonable rates?
To bring high speed broadband connectivity at panchayat level, the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project is being implemented by the Department of Telecommunications. 2,50,000 village Panchayats will be covered under the National Optical Fibre Network (NOFN) project.
This network, with provision for last mile connectivity through appropriate mechanisms, including the involvement of telecom service providers, will enable rural India to become an active participant in the digital revolution. A range of innovative electronic services will become available in rural India. In urban areas also, the communication infrastructure and service delivery will be improved to ensure that there is ubiquitous high speed connectivity.

What steps are being taken to integrate the identification of individuals with their Aadhaar number?
The Aadhaar based identification and authentication and Aadhaar integration into various government databases are the integral parts of Digital India. The government databases will be in the standardised form, leaving additional features to add if required, with provisions for Aadhaar numbers for each individual in the database. Aadhaar platform may also be used as eKYC under various schemes; for instance, the Aadhaar numbers can be used to open bank accounts under the Jan Dhan Yojana.

What is your view on using cloud for storing and managing government data?
The cloud platform can lead to significant reduction in the operational costs, by enabling government organisations to share infrastructure, platform and services. In order to utilise and harness the benefits of cloud computing, the government of India has embarked upon an ambitious initiative called GI Cloud, which has now been renamed as ‘Meghraj’. Currently 61 departments are using the services of Meghraj national cloud, which uses the best in class norms for ensuring security of the platform, applications and data.

- See more at: http://computer.financialexpress.com/magazine/egovwatch-infrastructure-for-digital-india/11869/#sthash.RCGtpIC8.dpuf
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