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, September 18, 2015

8704 - Mobile-governance trips on links, apps - Telegraph India


Mobile-governance trips on links, apps
- 54 services now on Jhar-Sewa initiative

A.S.R.P. Mukesh

Chief minister Raghubar Das at the launch of Jhar-Sewa and other IT services in Ranchi on Tuesday. (Prashant Mitra)
Ranchi, 

Sept. 15: In a welcome step to introduce public accountability to political announcements, chief minister Raghubar Das today launched mobile and web-based portals and apps to enable people track actual work done, but ironically most of these "game-changer" links and apps aren't functional now.

In a much-hyped m-governance launch at Project Building, Das kicked off a host of initiatives to digitally bridge the gap between his government and people, an Aadhaar-enabled midday meal monitoring and a system to track real-time implementation of initiatives announced by the chief minister among them.

But, apart from Jhar-Sewa, the renamed and expanded form of e-district, the others don't work.

For example, the m-Gov mobile app is yet to be linked with android phones. The m-Gov portal ( mgov.jharkhand.gov.in), supposed to mention all the activities in this m-Governance month starting today, does open but has no content.

And, links of monitoring systems related to Aadhaar-enabled midday meal, CMODO (chief minister's office directives/orders) letters, CM announcements, and Right to Guarantee of Services Act have not been hosted publicly yet for them to work.

IT department mandarins refused to name a day when these could be accessed by people on computers or smartphones, offering the standard phrase "very soon".

But, Das sounded upbeat at the launch, which also marked the start of m-Governance month till October 15, calling these drives "enablers" to make the "government machinery available to people" at the click of a mouse or mobile.

"In the last eight months, the focus of my government has been simple, accountability and reaching out to common masses through technology for better governance. Our Prime Minister is also highly IT focused, and it is the need of the hour," he said.
He added that by November 15, the state's Foundation Day, the government would roll out mobile SMS vans for people who did not have access to Internet. "All one would need to do is send an SMS to a number about your needs and a mobile van will be at your doorstep to help you," he announced.

Though state IT secretary S.K. Burnwal did not give a deadline on when the links would work, he praised the potential of the ideas.

He pointed out Jhar-Sewa (serviceonline.jharkhand.gov.in) linked 48 services to existing six essential ones such as registration of births and deaths, the new ones including online access to pension schemes, electoral services, consumer courts, land records, among others.

"Citizens can track the actual action taken after the chief minister makes an announcement (related to infrastructure, grant and others) at the Assembly or elsewhere or issues a written order to any department on dedicated portals," Burnwal said on CM's announcement and CMODO links. "In fact, so can the chief minister himself. It is a powerful reality check."

"Plus, Aadhaar-based midday meal monitoring system is all about transparency, for the state, school and parents to know if a child has actually eaten his or her free lunch," he stressed, adding it was only one of its kind in India and would work on the lines of Aadhaar-based biometric attendance scheme.

Giving details, a state IT department official said: "We are leveraging the nearly 100 per cent Aadhaar coverage in Jharkhand in the midday scheme. So, similar to Aadhaar attendance, after lunch, a child will punch the biometric machine to confirm he or she ate. A dashboard will alert parents, school authority and district administration if a child is absent for seven days."

But on when the monitoring systems would work, he kept quiet too.
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