AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9022 - Central funds for rural job scheme stopped, NGO says

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, November 4, 2015

9022 - Central funds for rural job scheme stopped, NGO says - TNN

Central funds for rural job scheme stopped, NGO says

Dhananjay Mahapatra, TNN | Nov 3, 2015, 04.39AM IST

Social activist Aruna Roy

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the Union government's response to a PIL alleging that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), floated to alleviate poverty by providing work to unemployed rural people, was in tatters as the Centre had not released Rs 3,500 crore to states since 2012.

A bench of Chief Justice H L Dattu and Amitava Roy issued notice to the Centre after summarizing advocate Prashant Bhushan's argument. The bench said, "You want to say that there should be compensation for delay in payment of wages and the Centre should wake up and make prompt payments."

The three petitioners - social activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey and Lalit Mathur - requested the SC to direct the central government to ensure timely payment of wages under MGNREGS, compensation where there was delay and regular social audits of those employed under the scheme.

The apex court, which is hearing a petition by NGO 'Centre for Environment and Food Security' on proper implementation of MGNREGS, had in 2013 directed a CBI probe into alleged scam in implementation of the scheme in Odisha and had also issued notices to UP and Madhya Pradesh.

The petitioners made interesting disclosures about their credentials. Roy said she was a social worker and a former IAS officer and founder member of Rajasthan-based Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan (MKSS). A former member of National Advisory Council, she said her annual income was Rs 60,000, which was a subsistence honorarium from MKSS. She also provided her PAN and said she did not have Aadhaar/UID card.

Dey said he was a social activist associated with MKSS working in the field of RTI and MGNREGS. He said his annual income was Rs 60,000, which again was a subsistence honorarium from MKSS. Like Roy, he too had a PAN card but no Aadhaar card.

Mathur said he was a former civil servant (IAS of 1968 batch of Andhra Pradesh cadre). He was deputy director of CAPART and Andhra Pradesh's agriculture secretary. He said he continued to be involved with NGNREGS interventions in Jharkhand, Odisha and UP. The petition said, "His annual income is Rs 66,000." He too had a PAN card but not Aadhaar card.

The petitioners said between 2012 and 2015, "it is observed that more than 50% of wages in the country were paid beyond the 15-day period prescribed under the Act. This delay has an adverse effect on a rural household considering that its daily necessities depend heavily on a day's wages".

It said during the UPA regime in 2012-13, payment of wages in 39% of cases was delayed beyond the 15-day limitation. In 2013-14, wage payments under NREGS were delayed in almost 50% cases. And in the first year of NDA regime during 2014-15, the delay in payment of wages hit an alarming level of 70%.