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

Sunday, November 22, 2015

9074 - After Supreme Court nod, UIDAI speeds up Aadhaar seeding process - Live Mint

Wed, Nov 18 2015. 12 35 AM IST

After Supreme Court nod, UIDAI speeds up Aadhaar seeding process

UIDAI is focusing all its energies into maximizing the number of beneficiaries under various schemes

According to the UIDAI data, there are around 1 billion beneficiaries under PDS, 159.1 million under the LPG subsidy, 91.7 million under MGNREGS, 27.1 million under pension schemes and 54 million under EPF. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency which issues Aadhaar numbers, is focusing all its energies into maximizing the number of beneficiaries under various schemes for which the Supreme Court of India has given its consent for using the unique number.
“Right now, we are concentrating on how more people can be added to the benefit schemes that has been allowed to us,” said an UIDAI official, requesting anonymity.
The apex court had on 15 October allowed use of the Aadhaar number for Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), central and state government pensions and the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) scheme, in addition to the public distribution system (PDS) and distribution of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and kerosene. Earlier, in an interim order on 11 August, the apex court had restricted the use of Aadhaar to the PDS and the distribution of cooking gas and kerosene.
According to the UIDAI data, there are around 1 billion beneficiaries under PDS, 159.1 million under the LPG subsidy, 91.7 million under MGNREGS, 27.1 million under pension schemes (National Social Assistance Programme) and 54 million under EPF. Also, till date, 191.3 million bank accounts have been opened under the PMJDY.
The Aadhaar seeding in these schemes, as per the latest data from UIDAI, are MGNREGS (52.29%), the pension schemes (23.22%), LPG subsidy (52.61%), PMJDY (42.08%),EPFO (17.14%), and PDS (20%).
“The Supreme Court has allowed the voluntary usage of the unique identity in quite a number of government schemes and we want to use this opportunity to seed as many benefit schemes with Aadhaar number,” said the UIDAI official.
The official added that the authority is also working on laws and rules on data protection to remove concerns about protection of privacy.
The legal case that the apex court is hearing relate to Aadhaar numbers being made mandatory to avail of certain government benefits and services, and others that deal with the number itself being a violation of an individual’s privacy, especially in the absence of any backing regulation or oversight, and some deal with possible misuse of the information. Subsequently, several state governments, government departments and regulatory agencies had put up a joint defence seeking a modification of the interim order.
They included the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), the Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the state governments of Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Gujarat and Rajasthan, and industry body Indian Banks’ Association, along with UIDAI.
The Economic Times, on 3 November, reported that audit and consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers India has been engaged by UIDAI to build a system to oversee the security of the Aadhaar ecosystem.
The official quoted above also said that the authority is hopeful that the government will soon provide Aadhaar with legislative backing.
Finance minister Arun Jaitley said on 6 November, “We can’t have a situation where Aadhaar is acceptable for certain measures to be adopted by the government, but not acceptable for other kinds of measures.”
The UIDAI official quoted above said that although there is no official word on the date, it will happen soon.
“If the finance minister has said that the bill, which is already there, will soon be passed, I am sure that he has made up his mind and it will happen soon,” the official added.
The winter session of Parliament is scheduled from 26 November to 23 December.

Saurabh Kumar

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