AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 8761 - India set to become data rich soon: Nilekani

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

Wednesday, September 30, 2015

8761 - India set to become data rich soon: Nilekani - TNN

India set to become data rich soon: Nilekani

Shalina Pillai & Avik Das | TNN | Sep 26, 2015, 08.44 PM IST

BENGALURU: India is set to become data rich from data poor in three to four years, helped by higher penetration of Aadhaar cards and a rise in people who own smartphones, former Infosys co-founder and chief executive, Nandan Nilekani, said.

Nilekani said that India's unique digital identity platform, which is expected to cover about a billion people by 2016, and the rapid rise in smartphone usage "opens up a whole new way of looking at applications."

"These, added with the government's thrust on financial inclusion to have bank accounts for all its citizens, creates an infrastructure that has never happened before," according to Nilekani, who was delivering a keynote address at an annual event in IIM Bangalore.

"In the last one month, we have given more bank licences than in the last 40 years. That is the kind of revolution that is going to happen - universalization of bank accounts," he said.

The event, Bzzwings, offers mentorship and support to aspiring entrepreneurs in implementing and scaling up their ideas. Six startups were shortlisted for the final event, and two got NSRCEL's incubation offer and equity fund of Rs 10 lakh.

Youth mentoring network, The Climbers, won the cash prize of Rs 40,000 and the incubation offer, while chronic disease management platform, Medcync, bagged the second offer.

The Climber is an online platform that helps students discover and pursue their passions by enabling them to select right career options. It was created by two engineering students, Sameer Ramesh and Mohammad Zeeshan two years ago, after facing the same problems as teenagers.

Medcync was started by two management students, Sowmiya Reddy, Sachin Manishi, and an alumnus of Harvard Medical School, Dr Anupama Gangawati. Having identified chronic disease as a rising epidemic, they built Medcync as a support network for both the doctor and patient community.

Nilekani said the number of smartphone users in the country is expected to touch 500 million by 2018 from 150 million presently. With the rise in smartphone sales and corresponding fall in its prices in the country, most of the startup ideas today are into smartphone applications. "Every business can be re-imagined through a smartphone," he said.

"With the mobile in the new world, the two factor authentication will be your phone and eye. We are working with four vendors who will embed iris cameras in their phones, which are expected to hit the market in the next six months. You can get an Apple Pay experience on every phone," Nilekani, also the former chairman of UIDAI, explained.

Nilekani also referred to the "India Stac" - a six layer application programme interface (API), that uses the smartphone platform. The API's can help in online authentication of identity, opening bank accounts through electronic KYC, digital signature from a mobile phone using Aadhaar authentication, electronic system of documentation, create an interoperable mobile payment system and empower individuals to access their own data.