AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10290 - Digitisation will change economic growth model: Nilekani

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

Wednesday, August 10, 2016

10290 - Digitisation will change economic growth model: Nilekani - Hindu Business Line

Digitisation will change economic growth model: Nilekani

OUR BUREAU

Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys and former Chairman of UIDAI , at the inaugural address of the Chennai International Centre, in Chennai on Friday BIJOY GHOSH

CHENNAI, JULY 29:

India Stack — the application program interface that incorporates Aadhaar, Jan Dhan Yojana and Smart Phones, among other things — is at a ‘tipping point’ of changing the way the economy grows, according to Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India.

The huge verifiable data made possible by the Aadhaar card, a unique ID card issued to over 1.4 billion people; the financial inclusion through JDY bank accounts, and smartphones enabling secure online transactions will be the drivers of India’s economic development.

Nilekani, talking on the theme “An alternative view of the future” marking the launch of the Chennai International Centre today, said conventional thought was that exports of goods, manufacturing and large number of jobs generated by big industries drive economic growth as they have done for Japan, South Korea and China.

But in India, due to internal and external developments, economic growth will come from domestic consumption, services and a large number of small businesses generating employment, he said.

What drives this change will be the JAM trinity.

The Aadhaar card is a database of over a billion-users, which is an authentic, biometric verifiable database created by the government.

There are few such platforms on that scale – just about a dozen in the US and mostly in the private sector.

In this backdrop, the proliferation of smart phones, which are growing at about 25 million every three months, and set to reach over 700 million users by 2020 and 330 million internet users, means a huge capacity for enterprises to connect with users and for generation of data. With the introduction of tablets and smartphones with iris identification ability, secure transactions are bound to grow multi-fold.

“India will go from data poor to data rich,” Nilekani said. This kind of an ability and “high trust network” will also drive online businesses across sectors, including transportation, healthcare and education.

Global scenario

Globally, the business environment is also changing as markets protect themselves. Data shows global trade is going down and domestic consumption on the increase. Services are contributing more to the economic growth and manufacturing sector is generating fewer jobs with increasing technology and automation.

Integrated market

India is well-positioned to benefit as it is a large integrated market for services banking, insurance, telecom, pensions even if it is a fragmented market for products.

“The digitisation will do for services sector what industrial revolution did to manufacturing – increase productivity,” he said.

The CIC, promoted by leading industrialists and professionals, will act as a neutral platform for thought leaders and opinion makers in diverse fields to share their views and to encourage debate.

The Chennai Centre is the fifth after the India International Centre in Delhi, and those in Goa, Bengaluru and Pune.

(This article was published on July 29, 2016)