AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8438 - Aadhar case: Ready Reckoner

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, August 9, 2015

8438 - Aadhar case: Ready Reckoner - LEGALLY INDIA

07 August 2015

An estimated 3-minute read

Aadhar case: Ready Reckoner

BY CCG NLU DELHI

By Shruntanjaya Bharadwaj, Intern at CCG and student of NLU Delhi

Date	Summary	Links
23 September 2013	The Supreme Court issued an interim order saying that Aadhaar card is not mandatory. It observed that: “No person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory and when any person applies to get the Aadhaar card voluntarily, it may be checked whether that person is entitled for it under the law and it should not be given to any illegal immigrant.”	CIS Order
8 October 2013	The Court rejected the Centre’s plea to revise its earlier order and make Aadhaar cards mandatory for social welfare schemes heavily subsidized by the government.	NDTV
26 November 2013	The Court passed an order impleading all states and UTs in the case.	CIS Order
24 March 2014	The Supreme Court reiterated the above: “If there are any instructions that Aadhaar is mandatory, it should be withdrawn immediately.” The Court also restrained the UIDAI from transferring any biometric data to any agency without the consent of the person. In doing so, it reversed the order of the P&H High Court. [Different case: The High Court order was aimed at helping investigations into a 14-month-old rape case in Goa.]	CIS, Dailymail, Hindu, Indian Express, Livemint
3 February 2015	The Court asked the Narendra Modi government to clear its stand on whether it intends to continue with the UPA government’s plan to allow Aadhar as proof of identity for direct transfer of cash for social welfare schemes. The bench, headed by Chief Justice HL Dattu, sought the clarification from Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar: “We have read it in the newspapers that there is some rethinking on the scheme. You have to tell us by Friday next,” the bench said.	Financial Express
13 February 2015	Solicitor General Ranjit Kumar cleared the Government’s stand, saying that the Government will go ahead with the UID project.	Deccan Herald
13 February 2015	RBI was impleaded as a party, since the petitioner had claimed that the central bank was asking for the Aadhaar number to open bank accounts and know-your-customer documents.	Livemint
16 March 2015	The Solicitor General admitted and the Court took note of the fact that the Aadhaar number was being asked for by governmental agencies for anyone to be able to avail their services. Relevant extracts from Order: “In the meanwhile, it is brought to our notice that in certain quarters, Aadhar identification is being insisted upon by the various authorities, we do not propose to go into the specific instances. Since Union of India is represented by learned Solicitor General and all the States are represented through their respective counsel, we expect that both the Union of India and States and all their functionaries should adhere to the Order passed by this Court on 23rd September, 2013. ”	Hindu, DNA, Business Standard
16 July 2015	The Centre urged the Court to vacate its two-year old stay on mandatory Aadhaar cards, citing the “tremendous success” of the Aadhaar project.	Telegraph India
21 July 2015	Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Court that the matter needed to be transferred to a Constitution Bench, since important questions were being raised.	Livemint
22 July 2015	Attorney General Mukul Rohtagi told the Court that there is no fundamental right to privacy in India, as per an eight-judge bench decision of 1954.	Indian Express
22 July 2015	The Court said it was inclined to refer the matter to a higher bench.	Newsgram
22 July 2015	Matter part heard in Court – Mukul Rohtagi, K.K. Venugopal finished submissions and Shyam Divan started – listed for 23 July.
23 July 2015	Matter part heard in Court – Shyam Divan argued for the first half of the day, and Gopal Subramaniam argued for the second half – listed for 28 July.
28 July 2015	Matter part heard in Court, listed for 29 July.
29 July 2015	Matter part heard in Court, listed for 30 July.
30 July 2015	Centre opposed plea seeking initiation of contempt proceedings in Court	Zee News
30 July 2015	Matter part heard in Court, listed for 4 August.

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First published here.

Original author: Chinmayi