AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10497 - Maharashtra in favour of making Aadhaar must for school final exams

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, November 8, 2016

10497 - Maharashtra in favour of making Aadhaar must for school final exams - The Hindu

MUMBAI, September 27, 2016

Maharashtra in favour of making Aadhaar must for school final exams

Hepzi Anthony

Students in a school run by the Mumbai municipal corporation.

Aadhaar card has been made mandatory for students appearing for the Class X and Class XII examinations in February/March 2017. Students will also have to fill their Aadhaar numbers in the examination application forms, according to a recent statement issued by the Maharashtra State Board of Secondary and Higher Secondary Education (MSBSHSE).

These forms are generally filled in around December every year. “We are intimating students and parents much in advance, to give them time to apply and get it,” said G.K. Mhanane, chairman of MSBSHSE. The board issued the statement on September 23.

Mr. Mhanane said for the last two years, students had been asked for Aadhaar numbers, but it was not compulsory. “This year, we are making it mandatory since we feel we have given them sufficient time to get it. Aadhaar would help us detect bogus candidates, who fraudulently appear in lieu of some other students. The number is important since we intend to link all students with Aadhaar and track their educational progress.”

When asked if students not having Aadhaar cards will be barred from appearing for the examinitions, he said, “We will not be able to bar students, but we are insisting that we want all of them to have Aadhaar.”

The State School Education department will be tracking the progress of students from Class VII, Class VIII and Class IX. It will also keep an eye on whether students of some particular schools are being deliberately failed in Class IX. This directive will have no bearing on the Class X examination of schools affiliated to CBSE or ICSE.

Advocate Rahul Narayan, who appeared in the Supreme Court against Aadhaar, said, “This is completely wrong on the part of the government, since the SC has clearly stated that Aadhaar cannot be made compulsory to get any kind of service. I would imagine that some students approach the court and get a stay on this order.”

“What about those students who do not wish to take Aadhaar or are not able to take it due to some technical malfunction of Aadhaar mechanism; after all biometric is not a foolproof system.”

But the teaching community is open to the idea. Seema Shaikh, principal of Pradnya Bodhini High School, Goregaon, said: “Last year, when the board had asked students for Aadhaar number in exam application forms, though it was not compulsory, it had us worried since many parents complained about not having it. We contacted the local corporator, who got an Aadhaar enrollment camp organised on our school premises. Almost all our students and 95 per cent of their parents were enrolled. We were prepared for Aadhaar made compulsory this year since we knew that such a decision was in the offing.”

The school has already made Aadhaar mandatory in their admission forms and school leaving certificates. “Other countries have some form of identification systems in place. If the government is trying to do something good, then why not be part of it?”

The writer is a freelance journalist