AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9729 - Worries About The Aadhaar Monster - Anupam Saraph

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, April 4, 2016

9729 - Worries About The Aadhaar Monster - Anupam Saraph - Outlook India

Worries About The Aadhaar Monster

Aadhaar, a billion strong today, heralds the destruction of good governance and the end of swarajya.

ANUPAM SARAPH

TARGET IRIS

A woman gets her eyes scanned in the pilot phase of Aadhar, the UID project.

PHOTO BY NILOTPAL BARUAH

According to the UIDAI almost no person issued an Aadhaar needed any ID as they already had at least two other IDs. UIDAI also admits that it does not certify the identity, address, or even the very existence of an Aadhaar number holder. Since the UIDAI has never undertaken any audit or verification of its data there is no possibility that it can certify identity, address or even existence of the Aadhaar holder. No wonder the UIDAI also emphasizes that it is a mere framework assigning a number to demographic and biometric data submitted by private enrolment parties.

For government agencies, despite repeated orders from the Supreme Court to the contrary, Aadhaar became mandatory to deliver subsidies, benefits and services to the common man. It ushered in a class system of those with and without Aadhaar and made PAN cards, Election cards, Ration cards, Passports, Drivers licenses etc. insufficient to access rights to live in India. In a hurry to deliver "good" governance, no one in government even examined if Aadhaar stands the test of being free of fraud, duplicates and stolen identities.

The Aadhaar Bill, passed in a great hurry and controversy, as a Money Bill takes the powers of qualifying you for subsidy, benefits and services from individual Ministries and passes them to the UIDAI. In case your ID is stolen or your authentication fails, you have no recourse. This Bill does not offer any redress all mechanism nor does it allow the courts to take congnizanse of your plight unless the UIDAI asks it to.

Since the Aadhaar number is issued to all residents, it cannot distinguish a citizen from a resident. Residents will enjoy the same subsidies, benefits and services as citizens.

To enjoy these subsidies, benefits and services you must now be authenticated by UIDAI. According to the UIDAI Aadhaar based authentication does not provide any information to any requesting agency. It merely replies with “yes” “no” answers to match data with another database record. With e-authentication, or doing away with the need for physical presence of an Aadhaar holder, anyone in possession with of your Aadhaar number or demographic and biometric details can now be authenticated as you. This allows for your subsidies, benefits and services to be siphoned off. This is a crime that is undetectable. Even if it is detected, no court can take cognizance without the permission of the UIDAI. This also makes you liable for any crimes committed with your Aadhaar number.

The Rajya Sabha had passed amendments to make the Aadhaar voluntary and even allow persons to have their Aadhaar data be wiped out. They asked Aadhaar to be restricted to government use. They requested the CAG and CVC to have oversight over the UIDAI. They even requested amendment that an Aadhaar number information only be accessible in a national emergency. Even without waiting for a few hours to read and sink in the recommendation of the Rajya Sabha, the Lok Sabha rejected them and passed the Aadhaar Bill.

Arun Jaitley told the Members of Parliament that Aadhaar helped save Rs 15,000 crore due to “targeted” LPG subsidy. Research done by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) contests this claim. Their computations indicate that the benefit from Aadhaar in the scheme through de-duplication of records was at best limited to Rs 12-14 crore in 2014-15 and about Rs 120.90 crore in 2015-16, that, too, before accounting for any additional costs. IISD estimates the costs of implementing Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT) Rs. 1,343 crore (USD 200 million) – ten times greater than the fiscal saving from integration into DBT in FY 2015/16. It is also estimated that much of the “saving” is because consumers have been denied subsidy if they did not link bank accounts to their LPG consumer numbers after DBT. With such "targeted"delivery no one will ever know of leakages in the system.

The implementation of this Bill will clearly bode difficult times for citizens. Whether you are with or without an Aadhaar, you may face the indignity of being denied or having to justify your rights to subsidies, benefits and services. Very likely you will also be denied justice as your rights are snatched away by an unequal class. The swarajya of Tilak is clearly dead.

Anupam Saraph is a Professor, Future Designer, former governance and IT advisor to former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar and the Global Agenda Councils of the World Economic Forum. He has designed and implemented government delivery and identity schemes in his past roles.