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

Saturday, April 2, 2016

9714 - I have long said we need a privacy law but Aadhaar has safeguards: Nandan Nilekani - Business Stanbdard

Interview with former chairman of UIDAI
April 1, 2016 Last Updated at 00:19 IST

Former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Nandan Nilekani, tells Nitin Sethi and Sahil Makkar how Aadhaar could become the spine for alternative banking and could replace government services with cash benefits. Edited excerpts:

The Congress, which had introduced the UIDAI, is now opposing the Aadhaar Bill…

I don’t want to get into the political discussion. The fact of the matter is that the vision of Aadhaar was a UPA vision. It began in 2006 and, in 2009, they notified the UIDAI and appointed me in July 2009. They gave me the complete support to implement it. By the time I stepped down, over 300 million were getting Aadhaar-linked DBT cash transfers. I think they (UPA) gave UIDAI a great foundation. They had the vision to start the scheme and the NDA has the wisdom to continue the scheme. It’s truly a bipartisan instrument.

Have you needed to talk to the BJP and Prime Minister Narendra Modi to convince him about the scheme?

I met the PM once on July 1, 2014 after the elections and discussed with him what Aadhaar can do. He had a fairly good idea because he had implemented it in Gujarat. After that I had no further discussion with him.

What transpired in the meeting that Modi who was initially opposed to Aadhaar made a complete u-turn?
I will not give myself too much credit. I think PM is very technology-savvy person who understands how to use technology for governance and so on. My meeting was to tell him my point of view and what I have learnt doing the project. 

Do you think we need a separate privacy law as opposition parties have been voicing privacy concerns in the current Aadhaar Bill?  

I was the first person to ask for a privacy law. When I came to government then I wrote a letter to then Prime Minister in May 2010 stating that we need a privacy law for Aadhaar and many other things. You have issue of phone tappings and more and more organisations are collecting data like health care records and financial records. We need an overall privacy law for the country. As far as Aadhaar is concerned, it is best in class in terms of privacy protection. The Aadhaar Bill clearly limits the usage of data and it can be shared only with the consent of the user. These are strong and robust privacy protection measures. 

The criticism is that a joint secretary can ask for data in the name of national interest. Shouldn’t the government take prior permission of the court?

It is in the interest of national security, which is different from national interest. The database can be opened if there is a national security situation. There are lots of safeguards. Decision of a joint secretary has to be ratified by three-member committee. There are checks and balances in the Bill. In the name of national security whoever takes the decision has to justify the decision.

You have recently written that Aadhaar can provide spine for the alternative banking system. How feasible it is given the credit crunch in the market?

The current banking system will take many years to unwind. This crisis has been created by about 50 institutions — 25 banks on one side and 25 business groups on other side. And if you put all the agencies on the bankers be it CBI, ED, CVC, SC, television anchors and all that I guess you are freezing the decision making ability of bankers. They will neither give loans nor settle old loans. 

So, we have created an extended freeze of the banking system, which means if the banking system is frozen from giving credits then the wheels of business will not work. This is not the problem which you solve through monetary or fiscal policy. This is like pouring sands into wheels of growth. What I proposed through my article was that with technology you can build a delivery system on to a small business or consumer’s smart phone, where he can get his loans approved in a minute using data and algorithm. 

Coming back to your question whether there is enough capital to fund this, in my view there is a lot of fresh capital. For example, 21 new banks which are coming up will bring in fresh capital. There are lots of healthy incumbents; there are lots of NBFCs coming in. There will be no shortage of lending if you have robust lending system. My suggestion involves alternate capital and alternate consumption by small businesses, consumers and world class technology driven ecosystem. I mean you have to have a plan B. How will you get a high economic growth until you create multiple channels of credit delivery?

The last mile banking correspondent (BC) is not functioning on the ground. Are we putting technology before putting other infrastructure?

All these things have to happen simultaneously. In my previous report on payment infrastructure five-six years ago, we had talked about BCs to get adequate commission which is 3.14% with a cap of Rs 15 per transaction. That recommendation has not been implemented. If you don’t give adequate commission to the BCs through consumers, and instead give it through banks we will not even know if the commission is reaching the BCs. Hundreds and thousands BCs will come up if the commission is directly paid to them through the consumers. 

The consumers can be provided this commission amount along with their other payments or subsidies. 

What is the one billion figure means to you personally?  

It is satisfying feeling that it in five-six years it has become a live project with billion users from a well-drafted cabinet note.

What are the three big steps required for the Aadhaar to actually take off besides enrolling one billion people?

One thing is to get every subsidy like kerosene, LPG, food and fertilizer in the country to either a cash transfer or BAPU (biometric authentication for physical update) kind of transaction at the Central level and electricity and water at the state level. Then buy the wheat and rice at the market price and give cash support to the farmer through DBT. 

Second is the use of Aadhaar platform to create high volume low cost technology enabled credit distribution infrastructure, which will provide credit to those who don’t get credit today. 

Third is using Aadhaar for India stat, which allows doing authentication, KYC, and digital storage, to see how India’s government and business can be re-imagined to make it paperless, presence-less and cashless. This will have dramatic impact on productivity, inclusion and economic growth.       

As we move forward, do you think Aadhaar be made mandatory?

The government is having the right approach, where Aadhaar is voluntary. It is like having a passport, if you want to travel abroad you need a passport or to drive you need a driving license. Similarly, if you want a subsidiary from the government you need Aadhaar. It is a perfectly reasonable argument.

Are saying it should be mixed, where government services are involved it should be made mandatory?  

No. Only where the subsides are involved. If the government wants to streamline the subsidy system, genuine people get the benefits, there is no corruption and wastage is eliminated so that’s a reasonable exemption.  

So for services like marriage certification, land records it should not be made mandatory?

I would look at the things where there are some value additions. For land registration one can still argue that it will reduce benami transactions.  

Do you foresee the prospects of your coming back to the politics?

I have done my bit and I had an excellent stint. I think it is time for me to go back to private life.