AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8514 - Centre pushes for infants to be covered under Aadhar, Karnataka sets the ball rolling

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

Friday, August 14, 2015

8514 - Centre pushes for infants to be covered under Aadhar, Karnataka sets the ball rolling - Economic Times

Centre pushes for infants to be covered under Aadhar, Karnataka sets the ball rolling

By Sowmya Aji, ET Bureau | 13 Aug, 2015, 02.56PM IST

There are an estimated 15 crore infants in India in the age group of 0-5, whose inclusion is essential to meet the target of 100 per cent coverage set by PM Modi.

Bengaluru: Even as the Supreme Court mulls the legality of Aadhaar due to privacy issues, the Centre has directed all states to speed up registration of infants aged 0-5 for the project through a new, "document-free" application that can be loaded onto a tablet and used anywhere.

There are an estimated 15 crore infants in India in the age group of 0-5, whose inclusion is essential to meet the target of 100 per cent coverage set by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Aadhar has already missed the latest deadline of June 2015, but the new and simpler application is expected to speed up the project's coverage.

Karnataka, ruled by the Congress that envisaged the Aadhar project, is taking up the tablet-driven mission in a big way by sending enrolment agencies to the anganwadis, which take care of children below 5 years under the centrally-funded Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). "We have about 40 lakh children in anganwadis. Our enrolment agencies, both private and state, will register the children at the anganwadis and do on-the- spot authentication. The biometrics are not taken for children this age, so the simplified enrolment procedure just needs a tablet for completion," Unique Identity Project Director H L Prabhakar, at Karnataka's Centre for e-Governance told ET.

The anganwadi coverage programme in Karnataka, home state of former Unique Identification Authority of India chairperson Nandan Nilekani, is expected to roll out within a month. The women and child welfare department, which oversees anganwadis, is to purchase 2,000 tablets. Officials said about 82 percent of the state's population - 5 crore of 6.1 crore -- already hold Aadhar cards. But the last-mile connectivity for the remaining 18 percent is proving to be extremely hard.

"We are trying to achieve 100 percent coverage in every possible way," Centre for e-Governance CEO Rathan U Kelkar said. The e-Governance department, which is the nodal organization for Aadhar in Karnataka, has even sent out teams to remote tribal areas in the state in backward districts like Chamarajanagar and to thandas or dwellings of tribal Lambanis in Hyderabad- Karnataka region, to ensure every citizen is registered. Teams have already completed registering every inmate in the state's prisons and in care institutions.

About half of the remaining 18 per cent that needs to be covered will be the children in the age group of 0-5. The Aadhar number of either parent will be used as authentication for the children and if the parent does not have one, they will also be immediately identified and registered under the programme, the officials said.

The state has roped in cine actor Sudeep as brand ambassador for Aadhar, held drawing competitions at state level and, trained about 142 teachers from polytechnics, who have volunteered to go to schools -- both government and private -- to hold classes on why Aadhar is important. Teams with registration kits are being sent to schools, orphanages, corrective homes and hostels where the headmaster or warden can give the required documentation to register children aged above 5 years.