AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8254 - Out-of-school children survey a year-long exercise: Vinod Tawde

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

Sunday, July 19, 2015

8254 - Out-of-school children survey a year-long exercise: Vinod Tawde - Indian Express

Out-of-school children survey a year-long exercise: Vinod Tawde

The RTE Act 2009 mandates that children aged 6-14 should be enrolled in schools, show regular attendance and get formal education.

Written by Dipti Singh | Mumbai | Updated: July 8, 2015 3:54

School Education Minister Vinod Tawde

School Education Minister Vinod Tawde Tuesday said the 12-hour survey conducted on July 4 to count out-of-school children across the state was not just a day’s affair but a year-long campaign. State government officials, schools and its teachers would keep tracking out-of-school children throughout the year, Tawde said.

The minister said children without a permanent address, and those living under flyovers and on footpaths too would be provided with Aadhaar card and tracked on the basis of that. “There are child labourers, there are children of construction workers who keep changing their locations. However, the Aadhaar and Unique Identification numbers that we will be providing them within the next seven days will help us identify and trace them. These students can be admitted to any school nearby,” said Tawde.

The RTE Act 2009 mandates that children aged 6-14 should be enrolled in schools, show regular attendance and get formal education. The state’s survey was prompted by this mandate and the need to find out the actual number of out-of-school children.

Following this, a committee was formed last year to suggest ways to bring the children into the mainstream . However, two experts on the state-appointed committee resigned from their posts earlier this year in protest against the government’s failure to act on their report recommending measures to tackle the issue. Many academicians and educational activists also pointed out flaws in the way the government conducted the survey.

Following the survey, the next step is to admit such students in schools in their vicinity. However, there is no clarity on how the admission procedure will be executed or how these children, who may have lost touch, can be accommodated a month after the new academic year has begun, activists have said.

Calling it an eyewash, Shyam Sonar, member of Campaign Against Commercialization of Education (CACE), said a proper campaign should be done over a period of six months to arrive at the actual number of out-of-school children across the state. “Saying that the campaign will go on throughout the year sounds illogical. It is also not possible to follow an out-of-school child who has no proper address, as the government will not follow up the case and the student will continue to remain out of school once he changes his location,” Sonar said.

Arundhati Chavan of Parents and Teachers Association United Forum said, “The government should have come up with a foolproof plan rather than just conducting the survey like this. The intentions are good and will be successful to some extent but there will be too many discrepancies. Government should have a back up plan to tackle these discrepancies.”

dipti.singh@expressindia.com

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/mumbai/out-of-school-children-survey-a-year-long-exercise-vinod-tawde/#sthash.PIAqf8vr.dpuf