AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8628 - Can the Aadhaar juggernaut be stopped now?

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

Monday, August 31, 2015

8628 - Can the Aadhaar juggernaut be stopped now? - Business Standard

Can the Aadhaar juggernaut be stopped now?

By restricting the usage of Aadhaar to just two schemes, the Supreme Court seems to have missed out on the wide usage that Aadhaar has acquired in the last couple of years

Surabhi Agarwal | New Delhi

August 29, 2015 Last Updated at 15:44 IST

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court passed an order on Aadhaar restricting its use by the government to just delivering cooking gas and food subsidy. It also said that the government must communicate widely that the unique identity number is not mandatory but voluntary.

The impact of the order has been minimal so far with most schemes continuing to operate like earlier. However, the Aadhaar project which has found great support by the Narendra Modi government, suffered a jolt with this order. It greatly restricts the scope of the project which is slowly becoming ubiquitous in the country.

While the advocates of privacy are hailing the move, supporters of Aadhaar are looking at it as another clog in the wheel in its journey which has been far from smooth. Though the court order which is in response to a petition that claimed that residents are being denied services for the want of Aadhaar may have addressed the main issue, it seems a little out of sync with the realities of today.

ALSO READ: SC okays Aadhaar with restrictions

The petition was filed in mid 2013 when less than half the country was enrolled under the project which justified the argument that a vast majority of people were out of the system. However, as government data shows almost 90 crore people have Aadhaar numbers now, which makes the “not everyone has Aadhaar” argument almost redundant.

As far as restricting the usage of Aadhaar to just two schemes is concerned, the Court seems to have missed out on the wide usage that Aadhaar has acquired in the last couple of years – be its use in central government for attendance, in banks for opening accounts or delivering welfare schemes other than LPG and PDS -- some of which are proving to be hugely beneficial. If the intent of the Court in restricting the usage of Aadhaar is to tackle the privacy issue and therefore minimize the security concerns associated with it, then perhaps addressing the root cause of such concerns would be a better solution.

ALSO READ: Is Aadhaar enough?

Despite the fact that the present government has lent massive support to the project, it has failed to pass the UID Bill in the Parliament which defines the penalties in case of a breach. The bill also provides a solid legal backing to Aadhaar which is so far being run on an executive order. The Privacy Bill which contained detailed dos and don'ts on data protection with sensitive schemes such as UID and NatGrid has also not seen the light of the day for the last three –four years despite being redrafted several times.

If the government moves fast on these two legislations, it is maybe able to provide some comfort to the court as well as paranoid residents who are still not convinced about Aadhaar and its benefits. Perhaps, its time to address the issue once and for all.