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

Monday, March 21, 2016

9592 - Across the Aisle-Aadhaar Bill: Ends right, means wrong by P.Chidambaram - Indian Express

Across the Aisle-Aadhaar Bill: Ends right, means wrong

In 2013, the Supreme Court, by an interim order, ruled that Aadhaar could not be made mandatory to receive benefits. In 2015, the case was referred to a larger bench to decide the question whether Aadhaar infringed the right to privacy.

Written by P Chidambaram | Updated: March 20, 2016 6:31 am

History can be told through stories. So can politics. If you wish to explain the politics of India through a story, you need go no further than the story of Aadhaar.

Aadhaar is a unique identification number that is intended to be given to all Indian residents. The idea is not novel or unprecedented. India was a latecomer to the idea of a unique identity number. I cannot but recall the fierce opposition to the idea. Ms Meenakshi Lekhi called Aadhaar “a fraud”, Mr Prakash Javadekar described it as “a game played on the poor”, and Mr Ananth Kumar said it was “something to be ashamed of”. Now, the BJP is the champion of Aadhaar and has piloted a controversial Bill through both Houses of Parliament!


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That success, however, has come at a price.

The UIDAI story
Let me tell the story from the beginning. Governments transfer money to citizens for many reasons — student scholarships, old age pensions, subsidy for LPG cylinders etc. Such transfers are plagued by the problems of diversion, duplication and falsification, and a large part of the transfers does not reach the genuine beneficiaries. How do we get over these problems?

The answer was to ‘identify’ each beneficiary by a ‘unique’ number linked to minimum biometric data. Unique number schemes were not new to the country: the income-tax department has PAN for each assessee and a credit card bears a unique number for the card holder. In 2009, the UPA government decided to introduce Aadhaar. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was established by an executive order and Mr Nandan Nilekani was roped in to steer the programme and the Authority.

Mr Nilekani brought his tremendous knowledge of technology and proven entrepreneurship to the UIDAI. What might have otherwise turned into another lackadaisical department of the government became a trailblazer on how to design and implement a transformational scheme. After proving the technology and running successful pilots, the UIDAI began enrolling people and issuing Aadhaar in September 2010.

Opposition to bill
In order to give the UIDAI a statutory basis, the National Identification Authority of India Bill was introduced in December 2010. It ran into trouble in the Standing Committee on Finance chaired by the formidable Mr Yashwant Sinha, a leading light of the BJP. The Bill languished in Parliament for three years.

Aadhaar faced opposition from social activists who had genuine concerns about exclusion of the un-enrolled and about privacy. 

In 2013, the Supreme Court, by an interim order, ruled that Aadhaar could not be made mandatory to receive benefits. In 2015, the case was referred to a larger bench to decide the question whether Aadhaar infringed the right to privacy.

Meanwhile, the UIDAI forged ahead with enrolment and issuing Aadhaar. By March 2014, it had issued unique numbers to 60 crore people (now 99 crore), a record unequalled anywhere in the world. Besides, 24 crore new bank accounts had been opened under the Financial Inclusion programme. A revolution was underway.

On January 1, 2013, the UPA government launched the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme under which monetary benefits would be transferred directly to the beneficiaries through an Aadhaar-enabled platform. The scheme was rolled out with easy and simple transfers. The big push came when it was mandated that the subsidy for LPG cylinders must be credited directly to Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts.

Right view, wrong turn
Fast forward to 2016. The BJP had a change of heart on Aadhaar as on many other matters that it had trashed when it was in the Opposition. The government introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016. In the ordinary course, the Bill ought have gone to the Standing Committee; the report of the Committee discussed; amendments, if any, made; and the Bill passed by both Houses of Parliament. The ends of the Bill would have been met.

But the Government had other plans — and other means. The Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha as a money Bill, a reference to the Standing Committee was declined, and the Bill was passed on March 11, 2016. The Rajya Sabha was treated with disdain. Nevertheless, the Rajya Sabha made five amendments. It was late afternoon on March 16. In the evening, the Lok Sabha, sitting in the extended hours, overrode the amendments and passed the Bill in its original form, and the government claimed a legislative victory!

What was the price of the ‘victory’?

1. The Bill was not a money Bill under Article 110 of the Constitution because it did not “contain ONLY provisions” dealing with the matters enumerated in that Article. The Speaker’s decision certifying it as a money Bill was plainly wrong.

2. The Rajya Sabha was snubbed. It seems that the government depends on the strength of its numbers rather than on the strength of its arguments.

3. The government faces the risk of an adverse verdict. The law could be struck down on the grounds of violation of fundamental rights and invasion of privacy.

4. The government has incurred the wrath of social activists who feel increasingly alienated. They will carry the debate to the people and doubts and concerns will continue to be aired, casting a shadow on a transformational reform.

The ends were good, the means were bad, and the price was too high.

Website: pchidambaram.in @Pchidambaram_IN


- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/across-the-aisle-aadhaar-bill-p-chidambaram/#sthash.G7WvD0bR.dpuf
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