AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9111 - All 50000 retiring babus in 2016 to get dues, pension orders on day of retirement

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, December 3, 2015

9111 - All 50000 retiring babus in 2016 to get dues, pension orders on day of retirement - Economic Times

All 50000 retiring babus in 2016 to get dues, pension orders on day of retirement

Aman Sharma, ET Bureau Nov 27, 2015, 08.34AM IST

NEW DELHI: Remember the iconic scene in the Munnabhai sequel of movies where a senior citizen strips in an office to get his pension? Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) Jitendra Singh did not have to do that but did concede on Thursday that he too had to wait for a year for his pension to start after taking voluntary retirement.

Singh cited his own example, when he quit government service to take the plunge into politics, to stress on the Modi Government's ambitious idea of a computerized pension sanction and payment tracking system named 'Bhavishya' to be extended to all 9000 central government offices in India and push all states to replicate it after the UPA had launched the same on a pilot basis. The Modi government aims that next year, all 50000 central employees retiring in 2016 will get their retirement dues and their Pension Payment Order (PPO) on the very day of their retirement.

"Last year of a retiring employee is spent in preparation of PPO and collecting no-dues certificates as he fears no one will let him in after he retires. The reputation of a retiring government servants becomes such that he is preparing to get his pension on time. This is just not done," Singh said. Secretary of Pensions Department, Devendra Chaudhary said Bhavishya "would remove the fear of retirement and worry of an employee on if he would get his pension on time."

He said government got 40000 grievances regarding delay in pensions this year. "Our experience shows pension payments are considerably delayed. Retirees need a dignified exit from service and can't be expected to run around for their dues or make requests to someone for it," Joint Secretary (Pensions) Vandana Sharma said.

Bhavishya involves preparation of advance list of employees retiring in the next 12 months and sending each such employee a login and password for 'Bhavishya' portal eight months before the date of his retirement on his mobile phone and e-mail ID. The employee fills up his details on the portal and based on that information, pension forms are auto-generated by the software and submitted for processing. The system then sends SMS and e-mail alerts to the employee, his head of department and disbursing officers for every action due and performed. Retirees hence can track the process online as government aims to give them their dues and the PPO on the day they hang their boots.

The Minister said the Centre plans to inspire all states to replicate the system once it is fully implemented by next year in all central government offices. "We have more pensioners in India than serving employees," Singh stressed.

Govt may do away with annual life certificates

MoS PMO Jitendra Singh said the government was thinking about doing away with the need for pensioners to submit annual life certificates to renew their pensions as expecting someone to prove every year that he or she is alive is a ironical proposition. Secretary (Pensions) Devendra Chaudhary said government has to trust its own employees for the purpose. The government last year launched an idea of the life certificates to be submitted digitally by pensioners by linking the process to Aadhaar but it has since got caught up in privacy issues following the Supreme Court ruling that Aadhaar is not mandatory for any government service.