AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8230 - UIDAI bats for Aadhaar cards for children to meet December deadline

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

Saturday, July 18, 2015

8230 - UIDAI bats for Aadhaar cards for children to meet December deadline - Economic Times

UIDAI bats for Aadhaar cards for children to meet December deadline

ET Bureau Jul 3, 2015, 05.40AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has started an aggressive drive to issue Aadhaar to infants and children below 18 years as it looks to ensure " universal coverage" by December, having missed the June deadline.

Unique Identification Authority of India has issued 87 crore Aadhaar numbers as on July 1. To reach the full coverage of more than 120 crore people, it will have to significantly increase the number of Aadhaars issued in a month from the current average of 2-2.5 crore. "The coverage is low, especially in the northeast. Besides, enrolment of infants and children between 5 and 18 years is yet to pick up speed. Hence we will now focus on these gap areas so as to cover all by end of this year," said Sreeranjan, deputy director general at Unique Identification Authority of India.

According to him, there are around 15 crore infants in the age group of 0-5 years and 24 crore children between 5 and 18 years who would now be enrolled on a priority basis.

Speaking at the round table on direct benefits and basic income transfers organised by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Sreeranjan said 94% of the population aged 18 years and above in the 24 states where the enrolment is being done by UIDAI are already covered.

"However, it (the coverage) is only 75 per cent-80 per cent in states where the Registrar General of India is doing the enrolment," he said, hinting that the slow pace of work in these states is another impediment to meeting the deadline.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi had in September last year directed Unique Identification Authority of India to ensure "universal coverage" under Aadhaar by June 2015 to use the platform for rolling out direct benefit transfer across all social welfare scheme. While the prime minister's Jan Dhan Yojana is dependent on it wherein the beneficiaries can open their bank accounts using their 12-digit Aadhaar number, the PMO has also directed that passports be linked to Aadhaar data. Meanwhile, chief economic advisor (CEA) Arvind Subramanian said sales of subsidised LPG cylinders under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme have come down by about 25 per cent as most 'ghost beneficiaries' have been eliminated. "We estimate that in 2014-15, savings could be as much .`12,700 crore, which is a lot of money. But savings will be lower this year at around.`6,500 crore," Subramanian told the UNDP conference call on Thursday while commenting on the fiscal impact of the DBT scheme. He, however, cautioned that the government should make sure genuine beneficiaries are not excluded. Subramanian said that government was expecting commercial sales to go up by a huge number, but actually this did not happen and there was only 6 per cent increase.

Under 'Pahal' scheme, earlier known as Direct Benefit Transfer, LPG cylinders are sold at market rates and consumers get the subsidy directly in their bank accounts. This is done either through an Aadhaar or a bank account linkage. The CEA said institutional arrangement has improved because of schemes like Pahal, Jan Dhan and Aadhaar, and "things are now working"