AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8205 - E-filing: Income Tax dept to send 24 hour valid password to taxpayers

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

Wednesday, July 1, 2015

8205 - E-filing: Income Tax dept to send 24 hour valid password to taxpayers - dna

E-filing: Income Tax dept to send 24 hour valid password to taxpayers

Monday, 29 June 2015 - 6:01pm IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: PTI

By automating the e-ITR filing with an OTP, the CBDT also wants to make this system fully "paperless".

In order to end the trouble of sending paper-based acknowledgement of e-filed Income Tax Returns (ITRs), the CBDT is planning to send a one-time password (OTP) on taxpayers' mobile phones which will be valid for 24-hours after getting verified from the Aadhaar database.

The department, a senior official said, has decided to usher these new protocols very soon as the new ITRs for the assessment year 2015-16 have recently been notified, heralding the onset of the tax filing season.

The deadline for filing ITRs is August 31.

A senior official involved in the processes told PTI that the new ITRs will capture the Aadhaar number of an individual and after doing a "back end" matching of the Aadhaar number with the mobile number and other vital personal data of the individual, an OTP will be generated and sent for validating and final submission of the return.

"The department will do the matching with the Aadhaar database where the biometrics and particulars of an individual are hosted. If the Aadhaar number and relevant details like PAN number and mobile number get kind of matched, then an OTP will be sent on the mobile which will be valid for 24 hours.

So, once you have uploaded your return (ITR), there will be an icon showing validate your return and with that OTP you can do that," the official explained.

The official said the department was currently thinking of having an OTP that will be "alive or valid" for 24 hours so that a filer has time at hand to process the return at his or her end.

"There could be an option to generate a second OTP too but that is being worked out. After putting the OTP, you then don't need to send the ITR-V (paper acknowledgement). The problem of ITR-V will get resolved," the official said.

The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), the apex policy making body of the tax department, has been getting a number complaints from taxpayers that despite they sending the hard copy of ITR-V by "speed or registered post" their forms were being acknowledged by the CPC as "not received" and hence the Board, for long, has been looking at options to do away with this system.

By automating the e-ITR filing with an OTP, the CBDT also wants to make this system fully "paperless".

"The Aadhaar-based authentication will give the e-filing of ITRs a legal sanction and hence the ITR-V system can be totally disposed off. However, providing Aadhaar is not mandatory and those taxpayers who do not have or who do not mention their Aadhaar, they will have to send their ITR-V by post as usual," the official added.

The system of Aadhaar-based authentication is being extended by the tax department to "low-risk category" of taxpayers like those in the salaried category.

As per existing rules, a person who files his or her tax return online, has to send a copy of the ITR-V to CPC within 120 days for processing of the return.