AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8249 - Information on your caste and religion is now on Karnataka govt website

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

8249 - Information on your caste and religion is now on Karnataka govt website - TNN

Information on your caste and religion is now on Karnataka govt website

Sunitha Rao R,TNN | Jul 7, 2015, 01.02 AM IST

BENGALURU: Your caste is no longer a secret. Information gathered during the Karnataka government's Socio Economic Survey has been put up on the official website - all the 21 parameters, including caste, creed and sect.

Conducted by the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes two months ago, the report is yet to be submitted, but details of the controversial census are already up in public domain.

Officials working on the census report admit the leak is a double-edged sword.

"There were 21 parameters through which details of a person were sought. We will be displaying a person's caste. If a person benefits from government schemes reserved for her community, why not go public about it? We are only following the instructions of the government," says Shalini Rajneesh, principal secretary, backward class welfare department.

The percent age of house holds covered under the Social Economic Survey , 2015, may stand at 99.65. However, as many as 20 lakh households in Bengaluru alone missed the exercise, some by choice and some because the enumerators never reached them. This is as per details available with the Backward Class Commission that spearheaded the census.

While participating in the process wasn't mandatory , many apartment dwellers consciously decided to opt out of the exercise that asked them, "What's your caste?" In April and May , when government school teachers working as enumerators went to apartments, gated communities and group housing complexes, accessibility became an issue. "We took appointments and visited apartments but often many residents didn't turn up. They said they didn't wish to take par t and we couldn't force them as it wasn't obligatory," said an enumerator.

Besides, during digitalization of the process, officials found over 15-20% of ID proofs like Aadhaar and EPIC numbers weren't matching with government data.

Also, in a sample data of 2.21 crore households, officials realized that over 1 lakh belonging to backward classes didn't have caste certificates.

"The purpose of this exercise is to make citizens aware of government schemes and the programmes they can benefit from. Over 15 lakh households have no bank accounts; our next step is to ensure they have one. In some cases, ID proof such as Aadhaar and EPIC numbers aren't matching with information available in our database. In such cases, we shall contact them on their mobile numbers," said Shalini Rajneesh, principal secretary, backward class welfare department.

TIMES VIEW

The state government has betrayed people by doing exactly what they feared before participating in the controversial caste census. When citizens share personal details like their caste and phone number with the government, they must be kept confidential.Whatever the rationale, authorities have no right to make them public. Else, how different is the government from internet companies that use or make netizens' private data public? The government has to explain what purpose is served by publishing the details -other than encouraging discrimination, or harassment using phone numbers. The authorities should take steps to remove the data and ensure it doesn't fall into the wrong hands.