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

Friday, June 10, 2016

10117 - Fintech revenues might double to $2.4 bn by 2020 - Business Standard

Growing smartphone penetration, evolving e-commerce ecosystem and customer expectations to give the big push
Moulishree Srivastava  |  Mumbai 
June 8, 2016 Last Updated at 00:31 IST



The market for financial technologies (fintech) software in this country is estimated to double to $2.4 billion by 2020 from around $1.2 bn at present. This would happen with growing smartphone penetration, an evolving e-commerce system and growing customer expectations, research entity KPMG and the software sector’s apex business association, Nasscom, said in a new report on Tuesday.

The fintech sector is expected to gain momentum with the increasing acceptance of Aadhaar, the citizen identification and continuing consumption. Aadhaar-linked biometrics will play a crucial role in years to come by bringing the unbanked population into the banking ambit.
ON THE ROLL
  • Indian fintech firms’ revenues to double to $2.4 bn by 2020
  • India has about 250 fintech start-ups
  • Fintech investment in India increased from $247 mn in 2014 to $1.5 bn in 2015
  • Angel deals in the space rose from 370 in 2014 to 691 in 2015

Fintech investment in India, with about 250 start-ups in the segment, rose from $247 million in 2014 to $1.5 bn in 2015, the report says. Some of the big deals in the period include Paytm raising $890 mn, Freecharge raising Series-C funding of $113 mn, PolicyBazaar raising $69.6 mn and Mobikwik raising Series-B money of $56.6 mn.

Investor attention has been concentrated toward hi-tech cities like Bengaluru, which saw 11 venture capital-backed deals worth $57 mn last year. Followed by Mumbai and Gurgaon, which saw nine and six deals, respectively.

Globally, the fintech space, with about 12,000 start-ups, saw $19 bn investment in 2015.

Companies in the US raised a total of $7.3 bn across 378 deals. Nasscom says the global fintech software and services sector is expected to become a $45 bn opportunity by 2020.

While India has a far lesser number of angel investors, the country saw a rise in the number of such deals, from 370 in 2014 from 691 in 2015. Venture capitalists are interested in early-stage fintech start-ups and are looking for opportunities, said Rajat Tandon, vice-president at Nasscom, India has around 1800 angel investors as compared to 300,000 in the US.

"This comes at a time when 21 new entities have been granted banking licences, a move to change the sector's dynamics,\" said Richard Rekhy, chief executive officer, KPMG India. These comprise 11 payment banks and 10 small finance banks. \"These new players will seek to adopt and leverage technology at a rapid pace. We expect banks and the new-age fintech companies to collaborate to create a system that will provide consumers banking services at low cost.\"

The report says key drivers for this change include the significant growth in both mobile and internet coverage and digital payments processing in public services. This deep and fast- growing penetration into the population base offers fintech companies an opportunity to address the legacy issues of low penetration (53 per cent) and dormancy (43 per cent) in the banking sector, it added.

Challenges that remain to be addressed include lack of a hardware system and required regulatory support, and small and medium enterprises' inability to access funds from banks, said Neha Punater, partner at KPMG.

Needed, says Warren Mead, global co-lead for fintech, KPMG, are to define the term and what all come into this category. Also, to improve the ease of doing business in India, streamline processes for Fintech start-ups, providing them support to develop and try their products, and give them access to global market.

"India should also look at specific regulations regarding issues such as lending and block-chain technology,\" he added.