AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10430 - Aadhaar’s e-sign awaits RBI nod

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, September 14, 2016

10430 - Aadhaar’s e-sign awaits RBI nod - Economic Times

Aadhaar’s e-sign awaits RBI nod

By Surabhi Agarwal, ET Bureau | Sep 13, 2016, 06.52 AM IST

E-sign takes away the hassle from digitally signing documents by using the real-time Aadhaar-based authentication system.

NEW DELHI: The ministry of electronics and IT (MEIT) had written to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) last week requesting for clear directions from the banking regulator for the use of esign — an Aadhaar-based electronic signature mechanism developed by the government. Even though the e-sign system is fully developed and operational, many agencies have apprehensions using it since there are no explicit directions from RBI on whether it is permitted or not.

The service is being pitched as a convenient alternative for the current process of getting a digital signature, through a dongle, which is cost intensive, time consuming and relatively unsafe and can be used to authenticate documents for a myriad of government services such as filing income-tax returns, availing financial and telecom services and getting different kind of certificates on the fly.

E-sign takes away the hassle from digitally signing documents by using the real-time Aadhaar-based authentication system and is pegged to be one of the major components of driving Modi government's ease of doing campaign.

Aruna Sundararajan, newly appointed secretary of MEIT told ET that the ministry has sent a letter to the RBI explaining the concept (of e-sign), and asking them to allow this. "So this will be a much cheaper alternative to the digital signature and much convenient as well. We have taken up the matter institutionally with RBI," she added.

The e-sign framework has been developed by the Centre of Development for Advanced Computing (C-DAC), the government's in-house research and development arm. Private agencies such as eMudhra and nCode Solutions are also offering e-signature facility along with C-DAC. Additional Secretary in MEIT, Ajay Kumar tweeted on Monday saying: "Major milestone in #eSign journey of @_DigitalIndia . @eMudhra-Limited crosses 1million mark on Sep 10. Congrats @eMudhraLimited @GoI_DeitY."

Despite its ease of use, its uptake has been limited since many agencies such as those in the banking sector are concerned about its validity. "RBI has not said that you can't use it, but it has also not said that you can use it. So, agencies are confused," said an industry official adding that more clarity on this will certainly help increase the popularity of e-sign by leaps and bounds.

Businesses are interested since, once operational, this will relieve the citizens as well as firms of the hassles of obtaining a digital signature certificate to verify their documents and could be a more authentic means to do it.

"Because of the Unique Identity number, the Unified Payment Interface, the Digital Locker and e-sign, the entire ecosystem is coming off age," said Sundararajan. She added that her ministry is continuously pursuing the matter with the department of financial services and the regulators to ensure the new services get the required push.

Currently, to digitally sign a document, one has to get a pen drive or a dongle from one of the authorised service providers or get a key from one of the online agencies which is stored in the computer.