AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9617 - Opening new horizons for railways development

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, March 23, 2016

9617 - Opening new horizons for railways development - Governance Now

Opening new horizons for railways development

Reforms like Aadhaar and online tests make Indian railways more technology driven and efficient

GN Bureau | March 18, 2016

The Indian railway budget for 2016 clearly indicates that the government’s investment plans are high for the next five years. This means that many people will be hired by the recruitment board in the coming years. As per recent estimates, 2.35 lakh people will be hired in railways in the next one year.

Speaking at the Railways Reform and Governance Conclave, organised by Governance Now, in New Delhi on Friday, Nagendran Sundararajan, executive vice president, Merittac India highlighted the significance of technology in making the examination process of Indian railways easier. He said, “The age-old system of giving tests on exam sheets creates a lot of confusion and unnecessary effort for the examination bodies. There are a lot of issues involved like printing, transit of question papers etc. Many students try different means to pass the examinations. It is important for exam bodies to bring fairness in the system.”

Hence, in an effort to modernise the examination system, the railway recruitment board (RRB) has started online tests. The challenge is to convince the students to take these exams online. “It is important to integrate technology into the railway system at every level. We are glad that the RRB has started computer based tests”, he said.

“Around two-three crore people will be taking the tests in the next one and a half years. We need to ensure that the country has enough infrastructure to handle the data and not misplace it. We need to build good capacity and that can only be done through technology,” he added.

Aadhaar card for identification
In a bid to simplify and secure the process of identification of an Indian railway passenger, Sunil Kumar, GGM-IT of indian railways catering and tourism corporation (IRCTC), said that the online ticket booking service might be integrated with Aadhaar for identification purposes. He added that, “The current system allows the users to book tickets with the help of any of the documents that are available with them, such as PAN card, passport and driving license. IRCTC has been thinking about a safer and simpler way to confirm the identity of the passenger travelling in Indian railways. What is better than Aadhaar?”
So if all goes as planned, Aadhaar will soon be made mandatory for booking tickets and travelling in the trains for identification purposes.

Highlighting the benefits of including Aadhaar in IRCTC’s identification process, S.S. Mathur, GM-IT of centre for railway information system (CRIS) said, “At the identification level, there is a problem with both policy and technology. Interfacing with Aadhaar will help us a lot. We can easily identify the passenger by the use of biometric system and by taking his Aadhaar number.”

If Aadhaar is integrated in IRCTC’s identification process, a centralised authentication system will also be built to ensure that the data records are safe in their data centres.

- See more at: http://www.governancenow.com/news/regular-story/bringing-aadhaar-technology-indian-railways#sthash.wj5YSiTP.dpuf