AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10461 - Kerala, Tamil Nadu face ultimatum from Centre to implement food security Act

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

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

10461 - Kerala, Tamil Nadu face ultimatum from Centre to implement food security Act - Live Mint

Last Modified: Fri, Sep 16 2016. 06 35 PM IST

Kerala, Tamil Nadu face ultimatum from Centre to implement food security Act

Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan blames states for their tardy response in seeding digitized ration cards with Aadhaar cards

Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said that the ministry has given an ultimatum to two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, on implementing the NFSA Act at the earliest. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Union food minister Ram Vilas Paswan said on Friday that 100% beneficiary ration cards under food subsidy programme have been digitized so far, but only 65% have been seeded with the Aadhaar card due to slow performance by some states.

“While all ration cards have been digitized in the country, some states are slow in seeding them with Aadhaar card, which would help in eliminating bogus beneficiaries, Paswan said, urging the states to move faster. He added that 2.33 crore ration cards have been deleted in 27 states weeding out bogus beneficiaries.

Paswan was addressing a gathering of state food secretaries in the national capital to review the performance of the targeted public distribution system (TPDS), India’s largest subsidy programme with an annual outgo of more than Rs.1.35 lakh crore.

To cut down on leakage of foodgrains, the Centre is using the Aadhaar unique identity number and focusing on end-to-end computerization of TPDS, as mandated under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), 2013.

As per the NFSA, the Centre provides subsidized grains to about 67% of households at a rate of between Rs.1 and Rs.3 per Kg.

Paswan said that the ministry has given an ultimatum to two states, Kerala and Tamil Nadu on implementing the NFSA Act at the earliest.

“If the two states do not implement, we will take stringent action. One option we have is to supply APL (above poverty line) foodgrains to them at a higher rate or we completely stop the allocation. Let them buy foodgrains for APL families at the support price,” he said.

C.R. Chaudhary, minister of state for consumer affairs, food and public distribution, urged the states to focus on timely procurement and disbursal of subsidies. “ States should go for scientific storage and all information regarding godowns must be computerized,” he said.

Lack of information was another major issue that came up for discussion. “States must display all information on their portal, right from the number of Aadhaar enrolments done to ration cards seeded with Aadhaar,” said Vrinda Swarup, food secretary.

According to a background note prepared by the food ministry, seeding of ration cards needs to be expedited in 19 states and union territories.

While Bihar, Assam and some north-eastern states have shown no initiative with less than 1% Aadhar seeding of ration cards, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Telangana have completed the process.

With more than 90% of ration cards seeded with Aadhar, the process is nearing completion in Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Kerala, Punjab, Tripura and Uttarakhand.

In eight states the progress is between 50% to 80%. These include Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Sikkim, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. In Arunachal Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, the process is in initial states with seeding rate between 30% to 50%.

The note from the food ministry shows that so far 8.9 lakh beneficiaries in three union territories—Chandigarh, Puducherry, and Dadra and Nagar Haveli—are availing direct cash transfer of food subsidy.

Suranjana RoySayantan Bera