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, May 30, 2016

10041 - A unified way of doing banking - Governance Now

With unified payment interface, users can access multiple bank accounts through single platform on a smartphone

Taru Bhatia | May 25, 2016

Courtesy: NPCI

The banking coverage might be poor in rural parts but in cities many people have at least two bank accounts. Keeping a tab on them is a hassle. More so, if you are managing them on a smartphone. You would then have multiple apps on your handset, and for any transaction you select one of them and then enter the details and remember the right password. What if all of them were combined into one?

That is the idea behind the unified payment interface (UPI) system of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI), the umbrella organisation for all retail payment system in India, launched by RBI governor Raghuram Rajan in Mumbai in April. The aim is to make online banking less cumbersome – or more user-friendly. Soon to be available for individual users, UPI can make the smart banking smarter.

“UPI is a channel that powers multiple bank accounts into a single mobile application (of any bank) of a participating bank, merging several banking features, seamless fund routing and merchant payments into one hood. It also caters to the peer-to-peer collect request which can be scheduled and paid as per requirement and convenience,” according to NPCI.

A unique feature of UPI is that it would allow you to make and collect payment from another user of any bank through a single application. Thus, the user will not have to manage multiple m-banking apps.

Another unique feature is users will not have to punch in debit or credit card details every time to make payment online to any e-merchant, or for any banking transaction. Instead, the user will have to link his bank details with a payment address, using which he can make or receive payment on his m-banking or payment application. The payment address here could be your mobile number, Aadhaar number, RuPay card, or virtual payment address.
At present, banks are offering electronic payment services through National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT), Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and recently launched Immediate Payment Service (IMPS).

Both NEFT and RTGS functions during bank hours, unlike IMPS that allows account holders to transfer money anytime. NEFT allows transaction of small amount of money, while RTGS allows transfer of money more than two lakhs. Now with UPI coming into existence, m-banking users will able to perform all these banking services along with its UPI’s unique features.

“This unified layer, which offers next generation peer-to-peer immediate payment just by using personal phone, uses existing systems such as IMPS, AEPS, to ensure settlement across accounts. The usages of existing systems ensure reliability of payment transactions across various channels,” says AP Hota, managing director and chief executive officer, NPCI.

How will it work?

You will have to first download the UPI-enabled banking application, or update the current application that will support the UPI interface. Then you will create your profile by entering your details like the name, virtual ID, Aadhaar number and password. Once the profile is created, you will get an option to add or link or manage a bank account. You can then add or manage different bank accounts on this single platform. You are then set to receive or make payment from any of your bank accounts using the respective virtual ID or registered mobile number.

For every bank account added in the UPI enabled banking application, a separate profile has to be created, meaning each bank account will have its own virtual ID.

On validating the user, UPI will send a one-time-password (OTP) to the user’s registered mobile number. The user will also be asked to set an m-pin for each bank account.

As for verification, the NPCI will soon explore the option of biometric verification. However, for the biometrics feature to get successfully implemented, an ecosystem for an advanced smartphones has to be developed that could be afforded by masses. That can take time.

You can also collect cash on the UPI-enabled m-banking app. Suppose you have to collect money from a friend. You will log in to your m-banking app and generate a collect request by providing the friend’s payment address. The request will reach to his UPI-enabled m-banking app, and with his confirmation, the amount will be debited from his account and get credited to your account.

When you need to make payment at an online portal, you only have to provide your payment address, linked to your bank account. Through your payment address, the transaction will reach to your bank account for validation via UPI and a request to debit will pop up on your phone for confirmation. With your confirmation, payment to the online merchant will be processed – and you will not have to enter your bank details.

Implementation


By now, 29 banks have agreed to adapt UPI into their current applications, including State Bank of India, Bank of India, Panjab National Bank, HDFC Bank and Citi Bank. They also have an option to launch a separate application that is UPI compliant. NPCI however envisages connecting m-payment applications (Paytm, Oxigen) and online merchants (Amazon, Flipkart) with UPI to move towards a unified cashless society.

“Banks are in the process of changing their current applications to make them UPI compliant. Merchants and payment apps will also soon integrate UPI into their interface. We are targeting to launch UPI application for public use by June,” says Dilip Asbe, chief operating officer (COO), NPCI.
The backend process for handling requests made by users using the payment address will be handled by NPCI.

Financial inclusion

With UPI, NPCI is also targeting financial inclusion. So if a daily wage labourer has to transfer money from his m-banking app to a family member’s bank account, he can do it by entering that person’s Aadhaar number linked to his or her bank account.

But, even as more and more people are turning to smartphones, there are millions who either can’t afford a smartphone or still depend on SMS- or unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based m-banking. UPI, for the time being, will cater only to the smartphone users.

“The UPI architecture supports USSD- and SMS-based transactions that will allow us to reach to the non-smartphone user base. However, we are still in talks with TRAI [Telecom Regulation Authority of India] as more approvals are required. It will take at least another six months to make UPI available for the non-smartphone user base,” says Asbe.

taru@governancenow.com
(This article appears in the May 16-31, 2016 issue of Governance Now)
- See more at: http://www.governancenow.com/news/banking/a-unified-way-doing-banking#sthash.lUvPdy5U.dpuf
- See more at: http://www.governancenow.com/news/banking/a-unified-way-doing-banking#sthash.lUvPdy5U.dpuf