AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8034 - Over 73,000 students to get Aadhaar cards

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, May 25, 2015

8034 - Over 73,000 students to get Aadhaar cards - TNN

Over 73,000 students to get Aadhaar cards

TNN | May 24, 2015, 05.45AM IST

KOLHAPUR: The district primary education department has started Aadhaar card registration of elementary school students across the district. After district collector Amit Saini conducted a review meeting in the first week of this month, the education department has been given 20 additional machines, taking the total number to 80, to achieve the target of enrolling 73,963 students before June 26.

According to the department's Aadhaar review report, a copy of which is with the TOI, the district has as many as 2.74 lakh students eligible for getting the card of which 2.11 lakh have already enrolled for it.

As per the report, Hatkanagale taluka has the largest number of pending students with the figure standing at 15,978. Aajara taluka has the lowest number of pending students (723). Kagal and Karveer talukas too have over 10,000 students pending for enrolment.

Smita Gaud, district primary education officer, told TOI, "The awareness drive for Aadhaar card enrolment has started in the district and is receiving slow but steady response. Summer holidays are creating a hurdle in the drive, but it will pick up pace soon."

She said over 9,000 teachers from the district have shown active participation in the drive. Since over 75% of the students have already enrolled for getting Aadhaar cards, the department is left with registering the remaining 73,963 students across the district.

"We are taking constant follow-ups of the drive. Since it is not possible to organize enrolment activity in every school, we have asked to hold the drive in one common and bigger school in some of the areas in district. Instructions regarding the same have been issued to the block education officers," Gaud added.

Meanwhile, the department has asked the education officials to do publicity for the campaign. According to the state government's April 21 directives, advertisements should be given in government and private media so that everyone gets to know about it.

Anuradha Bhosale, vice-chairman of Avani, a city-based NGO working in the field of education, told TOI, "It is heartening to know that many of the students have already registered for getting Aadhaar cards. It is now up to the administration to register the remaining ones in a proper manner."

According to education department officials, over one crore children in the state up to 14 years of age will be brought under the ambit of Aadhaar card with the help of this mega drive. The move is aimed at ensuring that no child drops out of school before he/she completes education or at least till attaining elementary education and gets benefits of all government schemes.

In fact, the department in its latest directive on May 20 has asked the schools to carry out a full-fledged survey on July 4 to enroll out-of-school kids in academics. The number of students identified in that drive will also have to be enrolled for Aadhaar cards.

Any child who is not enrolled in a school or has not attended school for more than 30 days is considered to be out-of-school. At present, there is no government data on the number of out-of-school children in the state.

Linking of Aadhaar card with students' database will help the government verify whether the students are enrolled in schools.