AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9041 - Opportunities immense for both consumers and providers, just grab them: Raghuram Rajan

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 18, 2015

9041 - Opportunities immense for both consumers and providers, just grab them: Raghuram Rajan - Economic Times

Opportunities immense for both consumers and providers, just grab them: Raghuram Rajan

ET Bureau Nov 7, 2015, 12.38AM IST

NEW DELHI: Reserve Bank of India Governor Raghuram Rajan said financial inclusion in the country is set to make a quantum leap with the coming together of several initiatives such as the opening of bank accounts for the poor and the payment of subsidies through them by harnessing technology appropriately. "We are on the verge of a cashless, paperless, presenceless economy and that would be extremely important to the poor who have to travel large distances (and) don't have a lot of ability to carry paper," Rajan said at the 6th Delhi Economics Conclave on Friday. "There are enormous opportunities we can take advantage of, enormous profitable opportunities which will help both the consumer as well as the provider."

"That technology we already have, the institutions are coming, the regulations will follow as appropriate. So what we really have to do now is implement, implement and implement," the RBI governor said. Rajan was expanding on the conclave's theme of JAM or Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile. This refers to the PMJDY campaign to open bank accounts for people with no access to the financial system and using these along with phones and the Aadhaar unique ID to empower India's weakest sections.

The governor also said that a risk-based know-your-customer (KYC) system was under consideration with a view to help make the financial system more accessible. This would mean that the level of due diligence would rise as the product became more sophisticated. "The FSDC (Financial Stability and Development Council) has a proposal which we are working on. We are nearly there. I think we should see that very soon," he said.

GAME CHANGERS

When it comes to financial inclusion, the most important element was payments, followed by savings and insurance and then credit, he said. Apart from riskbased KYC, another game changer would be payments banks, small banks and online markets. "These entities will help in traversing the last mile. Whether it is the mobile companies, whether it is the post office... I think we are going to see enormous innovation," he said.

He explained the thinking behind bank specialisation. "The idea behind the small finance banks is, let me put a person at the lending desk who is local, who knows who the people are in the village, who knows the behaviour and can go out and make appropriate loans," he said. "A number of the organisations that we have given licences to, we hope, will enter areas, cities, North-East, other places where there are still numerous underserved, and help us progress."

Online markets, on the other hand, will address the issue of access. "When you visit these small areas making very fine products in small quantities, their biggest problem is reaching the market, and if they can reach the market via these online providers a whole new set of opportunities open up for them," he said. Rajan said rules on consumer protection are being drawn up and will be rolled out by the end of the year. Education loans need to be made more flexible so they are more suited to the needs of borrowers, Rajan said, adding that defaults in the segment were rising. He suggested that Aadhaar could be used for this.

"If you go under a period of unemployment, you get an automatic moratorium, doesn't have to be negotiated with the bank, it's written up in your contract," he said.