AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9003 - Wait becomes longer for opening NPS accounts online

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

Thursday, October 29, 2015

9003 - Wait becomes longer for opening NPS accounts online - Live Mint

Wed, Oct 28 2015. 02 33 AM IST

Wait becomes longer for opening NPS accounts online

With the SC not allowing the use of Aadhaar for the NPS, PFRDA has put on hold its plans of using Aadhaar-based e-KYC for opening accounts online

Remya Nair

New Delhi: Subscribers looking to open an account online with the National Pension System (NPS) will have to wait longer to access this facility.

With the Supreme Court not allowing the voluntary use of Aadhaar for the NPS, the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) has put on hold its plans of using Aadhaar-based e-KYC (know your customer) for opening accounts online.

“The plan to move forward through an Aadhaar-based e-kyc will remain on hold,” said R.V. Verma, member, PFRDA.

In its interim order on 15 October, the Supreme Court only allowed the use of Aadhaar for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, pension by central and state governments, and the Employees’ Provident Fund Scheme, in addition to the public distribution system (PDS), cooking gas and kerosene. The court has set up a constitutional bench to hear various petitions challenging the use of Aadhaar in various social security schemes of the government.

Meanwhile, PFRDA is exploring alternate options to make this facility available to its customers. “We are looking at alternative measures to see how account opening can be facilitated online but haven’t arrived at a decision yet,” said Verma.

The Supreme Court order will delay PFRDA’s plan of allowing subscribers to open an account without needing to go to the various agencies designated as points of presence by the regulator. The plan was to allow subscribers to fill a form online while taking care of the KYC requirements through e-KYC. E-KYC service provided by the Unique Identification Authority of India is recognized as a valid document by the government for all financial services under the Prevention of Money-laundering Rules.

The regulator was looking to make it easier for subscribers to open NPS accounts by facilitating online account opening, as it expects more people to open accounts this fiscal to capitalize on the Union budget sop that allowed extra tax deduction for investments in NPS, as reported by Mint on 6 May.

To encourage old age saving and pension, finance minister Arun Jaitley had proposed to provide a deduction of up to Rs.50,000 over and above the saving limit of Rs.1.5 lakh under section 80C, for contributions made to NPS.

Though NPS has more than 10 million subscribers with total assets under management of more than Rs.1.1 trillion, the majority of subscribers are central and state government employees for whom it is mandatory to invest in the scheme.

Remya Nair