AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10190 - Aadhaar Watch: Newborns, school admissions, college, ration, LPG, DBT & More

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, July 30, 2016

10190 - Aadhaar Watch: Newborns, school admissions, college, ration, LPG, DBT & More - Medianama

Aadhaar Watch: Newborns, school admissions, college, ration, LPG, DBT & More

By Nikhil Pahwa ( @nixxin , +NikhilPahwa ) on July 4, 2016

An overview of recent news related to Aadhaar, which points towards the increase in government schemes being linked to the scheme, and issues faced by citizens:

June 27, 2016: PTI reports that A PIL filed in the Bombay High Court, asking for the quashing of an order of the Maharashtra Government which made it mandatory for children to submit the Aadhaar card for school admission, has been dismissed, after the state government said the order wasn’t mandatory. The PIL argued that the order was against a Supreme Court order which said that the government cannot make the Aadhaar mandatory for most activities.

June 28th, 2016: Rajasthan Patrika reports that more than the fixed charge is being charged for the Aadhaar card printing

June 28th, 2016: Deccan Herald reports that Indian Oil corporation, BPCL and HPCL have sent messages to citizens that those who don’t submit their Aadhaar cards will lose oil subsidy.

June 29, 2016: The Hindu reports how ration shop employees told citizens that their supplies will be cut if Aadhaar cards of all family members aren’t linked to the ration cards. 9.39 lakh cards have been linked so far. Ration shops weren’t accepting Aadhaar authentication printed online. The collector now says there is no deadline for linking ration card to Aadhaar.

June 30, 2016: HuffingtonPost reports that Jaspal S Sandhu, the Secretary of the UGC sent a letter to Vice Chancellors of all universities, making it mandatory for the use of Aadhaar for “disbursement of all government subsidies, scholarships and fellowships“. This also appears to be in violation of the SC order.

June 30, 2016: The Hindu reports that Newborns in five government hospitals in Hyderabad will link Aadhaar with birth certificates. The program is expected to be expanded to the remaining government and private hospitals as well. No iris or biometrics of the newborn will be taken, but they’ll take a photo along with authentication of the parents. Re-enrolment using biometrics will be possible after the kids reach the age of 5.

July 1, 2016: Times of India reports that NITI Aayog is consulting states and NGO’s regarding tracking malnutrition schemes on a platform which will be linked to Aadhaar cards.

July 1, 2016: Dainik Bhaskar reports that in Mirzapur, the postal department isn’t delivering Aadhaar cards, and banks aren’t opening accounts without Aadhaar cards.

July 02, 2016: The Financial Express reports that the average balance in Jan Dhan accounts has more than doubled from Rs 795 in September 2014 to Rs 1735 in May 2016 according to IndiaSpend. This is because the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme transferred Rs 61,284 crore into these accounts in FY16. Close to 60% of all 24 crore ration cards in India are linked to Aadhaar numbers. Only a quarter of 5 lakh ration shops have biometric readers.

July 03, 2016: The Tribune reports that all land records, urban or rural, will be linked with Aadhaar, under the “Digital India Land Record Modernisation Programme”. Chandigarh will be the first Union Territory where urban land records will be linked to the Aadhar number.

July 04, 2016: Economic Times reports: by the end of 2015, 62.7 crore people above the age of 18 had received Aadhaar cards, around 101% of the adult population for that year. Delhi has 127% Aadhaar enrollment.

Updates: Corrected the date for one story