AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9868 - "The system is becoming more and more reliable"

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 23, 2016

9868 - "The system is becoming more and more reliable" - Business Today

"The system is becoming more and more reliable"

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, DG and Mission Director, UIDAI, spoke to Business Today on Aadhaar enrolment crossing the one- billion mark.

By Joe C. Mathew New Delhi Print Edition: May 8, 2016

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, Director General & Mission Director, UIDAI

Ajay Bhushan Pandey, DG and Mission Director, UIDAI, spoke to Business Today on Aadhaar enrolment crossing the one- billion mark. Pandey asserted that all privacy concerns have been taken care of in the new Act and the government is all set to introduce Aadhaar in more number of schemes and programmes.

How do we address the privacy issue?

We have an Act now, which says that every data, right from the enrolment time, is encrypted. So this data is not available to anyone without the permission of the person concerned. It will be in our data centre and it will remain encrypted except for a fraction of microsecond, when data is used for de-duplication and Aadhaar generation. Only for that time, it is decrypted, and thereafter, it is again encrypted. Tomorrow, let us say this data is leaked. The stolen data will be in the encrypted form. Our encryption is so strong that if anyone tries to break it, it will take the age of universe to break one set. Your data will be given without your consent only in two cases: First, if the court orders us. Secondly, in the extreme cases of national security, where a committee headed by the Cabinet Secretary authorises that the disclosure is required. So, there is a very strong privacy clause.

Is it purely voluntary?

Section 7 of the new Act says that the Central or state government can say that for this subsidy or for this programme, the funds for which is out of Consolidated Fund of India, will require an Aadhaar card. Once the Act is passed, the Central government can say that if you want scholarship, you have to give your Aadhaar number. If you want LPG subsidy, you have to give Aadhaar number.

We have seen cases where machines are not recognising fingerprint verification, especially in the case of NREGA payment. Have you been able to sort out this problem?

We have tackled this issue. That is why we have issued 100 crore cards. The other possibility is that in the entire process, somewhere in the link, there could be some glitch. And that is possible. For that one has to establish an alternate system to meet such exigencies. We have improved on this front. And the system is becoming more and more reliable. But if it is still not reliable, people should not suffer. This should be identified through some other means and benefits should be given.

How many persons are involved in the Aadhaar mission?

We have more than 320,000 operators who are certified. All of them may not be working, as there are only 40,000 enrolment centres at the moment. If more people are required, these are trained people who would be available. This will be an ongoing programme as people's faces will change, biometric will also need to be captured more than once. Their names will change, addresses will change, so updating needs to be continuous.