AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10250 - Raghuram Rajan warns against rupee depreciation;says will make imports costlier

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

Thursday, August 4, 2016

10250 - Raghuram Rajan warns against rupee depreciation;says will make imports costlier - Economic Times

Raghuram Rajan warns against rupee depreciation;says will make imports costlier

By ET Bureau | Jul 19, 2016, 05.10 AM IST

Raghuram Rajan warns against rupee depreciation

HYDERABAD: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Raghuram Rajan attempted to silence the voices clamouring for depreciation of the rupee to boost exports, citing experiences of countries like Brazil, which did not benefit much from devaluing its currency.

Addressing top bankers and board representatives of regional rural banks (RRBs) on Monday in Hyderabad, he said devaluing the currency will not only make the imports costlier but will also have a lot of side effects.

These side effects, including rising inflationary impacts, could offset the benefits of increased exports, if any, since often the exporter imports a lot of what they export.

Terming the currency a complicated animal, the RBI Governor said some of India's emerging market counterparts like Brazil have had significant devaluations but haven't seen tremendous expansion in exports.

"Broadly, my belief is, today's value of the rupee is pretty reasonable and I don't think we should emphasize moving one way or the other as the answer to any problem," Rajan said. Addressing a conference to prepare the boards of RRBs for better governance, organised jointly by the National Institute of Rural Development (NIRD) and Crux Management Services, he elaborated on a series of initiatives aimed at greater financial inclusion.

Pointing out that there were three key impediments - information, incentives and transaction costs in the way of inclusion, Rajan said the public policy approach to address the problems was through mandates and subventions, transforming institutions and moving away from credit. Small finance bank licenses to RRBs, cooperative banks: Saying that the small finance bank licenses were so far largely given to MFIs, the governor said the regulator may consider giving the licenses to RRBs and cooperative banks in the future.

Udhyog Aadhaar numbers for small businesses: The government proposes to give small businesses 'Udhyog Aadhaar' numbers, which are unique IDs tied to both the entity as well as the promoter, aimed at allowing small firms build credit histories with credit bureaus and thereby help ease the flow of credit.

The RBI is looking at expanding the reach of credit bureaus in rural India, including by bringing borrowing under self-help groups into their ambit. TReDS to start before fiscal-end: Acknowledging that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) get squeezed all the time by their large buyers who pay after long delays, the RBI governor said the issue could be sorted out by enabling MSMEs sell their claim on the large buyer in the market.

In this, the "MSME would get its money quickly, while the market would get a claim on the better rated, large buyer instead of holding a claim on the MSME," he said, adding that three of RBI licenced TradeReceivables Discounting Systems (TReDS) were set to start later this fiscal to help MSMEs sell their claims on the large buyers in the market.

India was steadily moving from mandates, subsidies and reliance on the public sector banks for inclusion to creating enabling frameworks that make it attractive for all financial institutions to target the excluded, said Rajan, even while protecting the interests of the excluded through education, competition and regulation.