AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9730 - Why Aadhaar is not Sudhar: Study Questions Savings in LPG Scheme

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

9730 - Why Aadhaar is not Sudhar: Study Questions Savings in LPG Scheme - The Quint

Why Aadhaar is not Sudhar: Study Questions Savings in LPG Scheme

Akanksha Kumar

Today, 7 hours ago

Canada-based think tank IISD (International Institute for Sustainable Development) has come up with a research paper that refutes government’s claims on savings in the Aadhar-linked LPG subsidy scheme. Authored by Kieran Clarke, the paper dated March 16 questions the implementation of the subsidy scheme as their estimates suggest that savings from the new scheme (which came into force across India since January 1, 2015) cannot be more than Rs 12-14 cr for the FY 2014-15.

The research paper notes:

Putting aside the relative merits of Aadhaar as a public policy tool, our calculations indicate that, instead of resulting in significant savings, the net fiscal impact of integrating Aadhaar into DBTL in the current financial year was likely to be minimal, and that expectations of substantial net savings in subsidy expenditure from the introduction of the Aadhaar scheme may be misplaced.

Research paper titled, “Ghost Savings: Understanding the fiscal impact of India’s direct transfer program”

The government has so far been claiming in its various statements as well as press releases from the Ministry of Petroleum & Natural Gas that savings from the Aadhar-linked gas scheme has been to the tune of Rs 14, 672 crore for FY 2014-15. KM Mahesh, a deputy secretary in the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas stands by the figures quoted by the government. “The basis on which we have worked out savings of the PAHAL scheme are the 3.34 crore accounts that we were able to block and then arrived at savings”, said Mr Mahesh in a telephonic conversation with The Quint.”

In a press release dated October 12, 2015 the ministry claims of weeding out 3.34 fake accounts and has pegged the savings at Rs 14, 672 cr (assuming 12 cylinders being given at a subsidy of Rs 336).

(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)

What Explains the Difference?

The huge difference between the government estimates and research done by this international think tank lies in assuming the number of ghost beneficiaries weeded out as a result of Aadhar-based biometrics. As an editorial in the Financial Express explains the difference – if out of 100 beneficiaries eligible for a subsidy of Rs 100 each, only 75 are identified as genuine beneficiaries. It means that 25 were fake beneficiaries taking undue advantage of govt-run scheme. Now if out of remaining 75, only 70 actually turn up to claim for the subsidy on the basis of Aadhar card, we have a total of 30 ghost beneficiaries. Now follows the tedious part, a divergence in the calculation of savings:

a) Government’s method of calculating savings:

30 * 100 = Rs 3000

b) IISD’s method of calculating savings”

5*100 = Rs 500

(Why take into account 5 who didn’t turn up? Because they are the consumers who were availing undue benefits by listing themselves for the subsidy schemes).

The research paper by the international think tank lists two figures: Rs 143 crore as the reduction in subsidy expenditure and Rs 14 crore as the gross savings for the FY 2014-15.

(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)

Author of the paper, Kieran Clarke refused to comment on the findings of the paper, he however did offer a clarification on the two figures quoted in the research note.

Rs 143.2 crore is the total theoretically estimated subsidy savings from implementing DBTL (Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar). This is based on the chief economic advisor’s own estimates using a consumption based methodology. It does not include the costs of implementation. In comparison, the figure of 12 to 14 crore is representing the estimated saving only through Aadhaar based de-duplication, as laid out in the most recent note we published. Hence it is a small fragment of the total savings.

Kieran Clarke, Researcher, International Institute for Sustainable Development in an email reponse

(Infographic: Rahul Gupta/ The Quint)

As the debate on Aadhar rages on with questions being raised on the breach of privacy, it is worth doing a reality check as to what extent the program has been helpful in making sure that benefits reach the intended beneficiaries.

Experts including the Dhande committee report in 2014 have lauded the Aadhar-linked LPG subsidy scheme in helping to identify duplicate consumers, the fear however is about their re-appearance in the system all over again as well as evaluating the real cost of implementation of the scheme.