AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9885 - Despite PMO order against smart cards, Rajasthan to go ahead with Bhamashah

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

Sunday, May 1, 2016

9885 - Despite PMO order against smart cards, Rajasthan to go ahead with Bhamashah - Indian Rxpress

Despite PMO order against smart cards, Rajasthan to go ahead with Bhamashah

The card is linked to a bank account and is opened in the name of a female member of the family, thereby, recognising her as the head of the household, unlike the traditional male-headed PDS/ration card systems.

Written by Mahim Pratap Singh | Jaipur | Published:April 25, 2016 4:26 am

The PMO has recently directed the state governments to do away with smart cards and link all service delivery to Aadhaar. However, the Rajasthan government has decided to go ahead with its Bhamashah card.

Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje’s flagship Bhamashah financial inclusion-cum-service delivery scheme is based on the biometric authentication like Aadhaar and has the family, instead of the individual, as the central beneficiary.

Using the Bhamashah card, the state government intends to deliver financial as well as non-financial services, including cashless health cover for over 4.5 crore Rajasthanis. The state government feels that both the cards — Aadhaar and Bhamashah — are complementary to each other and the directive on Aadhaar does not mean an end to Bhamashah. “For us, Aadhaar means another layer of validation, over and above the Bhamashah card,” state planning secretary Akhil Arora told The Indian Express. According to him, both the cards will work together to contribute to more efficient last-mile delivery of services offered by the government. “We have been capturing Aadhaar data for every Bhamashah beneficiary from Day one. That means the beneficiaries’ Aadhaar information will be integrated with the Bhamashah card. Our card takes care of beneficiaries’ privacy concerns as well as concerns regarding change in the family profile,” he said. Since it’s a family-based card, unlike the individual beneficiary-based Aadhaar, Bhamashah card allows automatic updating of changes in family profile, including addition of new members to the card following marriage or birth. The PMO directive – issued recently after Aadhaar received legal backing with the passage of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act last month – has asked the state and central departments to do away with issuing new smart cards. The directive asked state governments and Central departments to review various smart card-based schemes and link all service delivery and welfare schemes to the Aadhaar card. The order has reportedly got several ministries worried about rolling out smart card-based schemes already planned by them. The government of Rajasthan, however, is not worried about the PMO’s advice. The Bhamashah card already has 1,16,51,419 families with 4,06,58,247 members registered on the platform. The government claims the card has already recorded 3,00,52,241 transactions worth over Rs 1,602 crore. Besides financial inclusion and health cover, the other services to be offered through the Bhamashah platform are NREGA payments, social security and old age pensions, student scholarships, Janani Suraksha Yojana incentive, among others. With the state government planning to use the Bhamashah and Aadhaar cards in tandem, the ball is now in the PMO’s court.

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/cities/jaipur/despite-pmo-order-against-smart-cards-rajasthan-to-go-ahead-with-bhamashah/#sthash.g98bPkgG.dpuf