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

Thursday, August 13, 2015

8505 - News in Numbers: Govt seeks Rs640 crore compensation from Nestle _ live Mint



Govt filed a complaint against Nestle on behalf of consumers—the first time it has done against a company—in a consumer forum

In June, the food regulator banned Nestle’s popular Maggi noodles, alleging the presence of excess lead and misleading information about monosodium glutamate on the label. Photo: Bloomberg

896 million
The number of Aadhaars, the unique identity number for every resident of India that was launched by the previous Congress-led government, issued so far. The current Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government has made Aadhaar the identity centerpiece for welfare schemes. But its extension to further government schemes is on hold for now after the Supreme Court on Tuesday said Aadhaar was not mandatory to avail of welfare benefits and asked a larger bench to examine whether the information collected and shared by the government under Aadhaar violated the right to privacy of individuals.

$72 billion
The value of trade between India and China in 2014-15. Of this, $60 billion was goods moving from China, much of whose superlative growth in the past decade has been on account of such exports, to India. That growth has been flagging, with China reporting a 8.3% drop in July. In order to shore up this growth, China on Tuesday signalled a devaluing of its currency, which would effectively make its products more price-competitive in international markets, sending ripples through other markets and raising fears of currency wars.

24%
Syngene International, the research arm of biotech major Biocon, listed on Tuesday at a 24% premium to its issue price. Elsewhere, the initial public offering (IPO) of Power Mech, which provides engineering services to the power sector, received subscriptions of about 38 times its issue size on Tuesday, its last day. Both numbers augur well for other high-profile businesses that have stated their intent to go public in the coming weeks and months, a list that includes the companies that run Café Coffee Day and IndiGo Airlines.

Rs.640 crore
One of the two figures being stated for the compensation amount for consumers the government has sought from Nestle India. The other is Rs.426 crore. In June, the food regulator banned Nestle’s popular Maggi noodles, alleging the presence of excess lead and misleading information about monosodium glutamate on the label. The case is contested on various legal forums. The government on Tuesday filed a complaint against Nestle on behalf of consumers—the first time it has done against a company—in a consumer forum.

9%
The amount of time the Rajya Sabha, one of the two houses of Parliament, has worked this monsoon session, the lowest in the last five years, according to PRS Legislative Research. For Lok Sabha, the figure is 43%, the second lowest in the last two years. Parliamentary proceedings have been marred by the Congress party stalling Parliament, demanding the resignations of central minister Sushma Swaraj, Rajasthan chief minister Vasundhara Raje and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. With two days left in the session, the passage of the goods and services tax bill, a far-reaching tax reform, is in jeopardy.

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