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

8705 - Shri Bandaru Dattatraya Launches Mobile Based Services for EPF Members in Hyderabad EPFO Moves to M-Governance- EPFO - Business Standard


Services on Mobile Application Send an SMS to 7738299899 to Activate UAN Account: Give Miss Call at 01122901406 to Know Details of Contribution and PF Balance

Delhi 
September 16, 2015 Last Updated at 00:20 IST


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Shri Bandaru Dattatraya Launches Mobile Based Services for EPF Members in Hyderabad 

EPFO Moves to M-Governance- EPFO Services on Mobile Application

Send an SMS to 7738299899 to Activate UAN Account: Give Miss Call at 01122901406 to Know Details of Contribution and PF Balance 

Shri Bandaru Dattatraya, Hon'ble Minister of State for Labour & Employment (Independent Charge) launched three new mobile based services for EPF members namely Mobile Application, SMS based UAN Activation and Missed Call service on the eve of the 208th meeting of the Central Board of Trustees (EPF) on September 15, 2015 in Hyderabad. 

By downloading the new mobile application from the EPFO website, www.epfindia.gov.in the members would be able to activate their UAN accounts from the comfort of their mobile phones and can also access their accounts for viewing their monthly credits through the passbook as well view their details available with EPFO. Similarly the EPF pensioners have been given the facility to access their pension disbursement details through this mobile app. likewise the employer can also view their remittance details. 

On this occasion, the Minister also launched a new SMS based UAN activation service which enables members to activate their accounts by sending an SMS to 7738299899 thus further making the activation process easy. Once activated, the member becomes eligible to all services envisaged in UAN programme such as credit alerts, passbook etc. This new service is especially helpful to such members who may not have easy access to computers or smart phones. 

EPFO has already in place a Short Code SMS service which has enabled the members in knowing their details along with contribution and PF Balance through an SMS at 7738299899. As an extension to this service, the Missed Call service is intended to further ease the process since only a missed call at 01122901406, at no cost to the member, would provide him all the envisaged details. As this facility is available only to the UAN activated members, such facility will speed up the UAN activation process by the members. 

Speaking on the occasion, Shri Shankar Aggarwal, Secretary, Ministry of Labour and Employment, Govt of India and Vice Chairman of CBT congratulated the team of officers of EPFO for bringing this Mobile Application in such a short time. He stated that EPFO has in the recent past provided better services to its stakeholders be it EPF members, employers or pensioners. These services include online services such as Universal Account Number (UAN), Helpdesk System, establishment registration, transfer claim, payments of contributions by employers, Jeevan Praman Patra (e-Life Certificate) for pensioners etc. 

The function was also attended by members of the Central Board, EPF and other dignitaries. Shri K.K. Jalan, Central PF Commissioner thanked all the guests and assured that EPFO will continue its initiative of providing better services to its stakeholder by re-engineering its processes through online and centralised services such as in the area of revised ECR, online claim etc in the near future. He said that Bank Account and AADHAAR seeding with the UAN will ultimately reduce the burden of the employers. 

Shri Bandaru Dattatraya informed that these services will facilitate nearly 3.54 crores contributing members, 49.22 lakh pensioners and 6.1 lakh employers. A total number of nearly 1.80 crore UAN are activated, 58.72 lakh UAN are seeded with AADHAAR and 1.82 crore UAN are seeded with Bank Account. In Hyderabad region, nearly 16.46 lakh contributing members, 1.26 lakh pensioners and 21,817 employers can avail these facilities. He also informed that the government has in perpetuity made Rs. 1000 as minimum pension and also informed that EPFO with the use of the technology is disbursing pension on the first day of the month. He also informed that Government has already decided to bring all construction workers who are more than 4 crore in numbers, all rickshaw pullers and all auto rickshaw drivers under the fold of EPFO & ESIC. 


Shri Dattatreya also stated that Government is committed to create an environment which is conducive for creation of jobs at every level. In view of this the new Government under Hon'ble PM Shri Narendra Modiji has taken three big initiatives - Make in India, Skill India and Digital India. However, to make these initiatives to bear fruits it would be necessary to simplify and rationalise labour laws. The Government is taking all initiatives in this direction so that the workers can be assured of job security, wage security and social security while ensuring ease of doing business.