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, February 10, 2016

9333 - Very few pensioners opt for digital life certificates


MYSURU, February 9, 2016

Very few pensioners opt for digital life certificates

One would think that the option of submitting a digital life certificate would make a pensioner’s life easy, considering it saves the bother of travelling to the disbursing centre every year, irrespective of where he/she lives and their health conditions.

However, in Karnataka, including in the IT capital of Bengaluru, the Union government’s ambitious Jeevan Pramaan scheme to allow pensioners this option has very few takers. In Bengaluru, those opting for digital certificates have not even reached the double digit.

Though the scheme was rolled out in 2014, the number of pensioners opting for biometric-enabled digital certificate has not crossed 1,000 across the State, according to an official in the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT), Kozhikode, which is overseeing its implementation in Karnataka and Kerala. The Central government pensioners alone number close to two lakh in Karnataka, besides State government, and armed forces pensioners.

A representative of the lone Common Service Centre (CSC) run by NIELIT in Bengaluru said they were unable to enrol more than five to six pensioners ever since they signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with NIELIT a year ago. “There is no demand for digital certificates. So, we have discontinued issuing them,” he said.

Jeevan Pramaan gives pensioners an option to submit a digital certificate instead of presenting themselves physically once a year before the pension disbursing agency, which in most cases is the bank. It is useful for sick and infirm pensioners and those who have relocated to a different city.

NIELIT, an autonomous body of the Department of Electronics and Information Technology, Government of India, has identified 39 CSCs and equipped them with a biometric reading device. This is uploaded to the central database, which is made accessible to the pension disbursing agency.

Ashok S. Kololgi, Secretary of Karnataka Central Government Pensioners’ Association, told The Hindu that pensioners are not even aware of the existence of CSCs. They should be spread across the city to enable pensioners to go to the nearest one, he said. Also, banks should also have the infrastructure to issue these certificates, he said.

However, NIELIT officials said private agencies do not come forward to take up the work as they need to collect no more than Rs. 10 for each enrolment.

“Earlier, the remuneration for each enrolment by the CSC was Rs. 50, but it has now been brought down to Rs. 10. The CSCs will have to sign a MoU with us,” the official said.

Though NIELIT officials said banks that volunteer to enrol pensioners for Jeevan Pramaan scheme will also be given the biometric reading device, many pensioners said their banks insisted on their physical presence for the life certificate.

Pensioners have to produce Aadhaar card, pension payment order number, bank account number, bank name, and mobile number Jeevan Pramaan scheme uses Aadhaar platform for biometric authentication of pensioner

Details available at NIELIT, Kozhikode (0495-2287266)