AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 10711 - India Stack is the key technology platform that could transform India into a cashless economy

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

Friday, January 20, 2017

10711 - India Stack is the key technology platform that could transform India into a cashless economy - First Post

India Stack is the key technology platform that could transform India into a cashless economy

#INDIA STACK

By tech2 News Staff / 12 Dec 2016 , 12:35

The sudden demonetisation of high value currency notes might have come as a shock, but the Government has been working towards making India a cashless economy for at least seven years. The India Stack is a set of APIs that allow governments and private companies to deploy cashless and paperless technology products. The stack comprises of APIs that are independently maintained by their owners, but the India Stack as a whole drives adoption by developers by organising events.

The Aadhaar card is the main enabler for these services, allowing easy authentication and supporting cashless transactions. Documents stored in a digital locker allows companies to quickly give customers insurance coverage, allow customers to invest in mutual funds, and give out education loans to students. With Aadhaar card, e-KYC and e-Sign, Reliance Jio is able to provide customers with sims in under five minutes, a process that took anywhere between three to five days. This is a better experience for the customer.

The stack consists of UIDAI, a unique identification number that is linked to biometric readings of the individual. Aadhaar is the world’s largest national identity project. The e-KYC project was added to Aadhaar based on industry feedback. This allows companies and organisations to get instant verification of customers along with date of birth and residence address. The National Payment Corporation of India developed the Aadhaar Enabled Payments System (AEPS). AEPS improves financial inclusion, allows small retail outlets to go cashless, allows disbursement of government entitlements, facilitates bank to bank fund transfer in a safe manner, and is the foundation for a full range of banking services.

The National Payment Corporation of India also launched and maintains the Unified Payment Interface. The UPI system allows for both a pay request, where a customer sends funds to a beneficiary, and a collect request where a customer can request payment from a remitter. A virtual id is used to process the transactions, which is similar to an e-mail address. Adoption of UPI is important to get India to trade and transact digitally.

eSign is an API to facilitate Aadhaar card holders to digitally sign documents. The authentication supported is through biometric readings or a one-time password. The eSign API hopes to remove a lot of paperwork from the authentication process, as well as provide a legally valid signing mechanism. eSign is managed by the Controller of Certifying Authorities, a part of the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology. DigiLocker is a Government of India repository for documents. Users sign up for the service, link to Aadhaar card, upload their documents, eSign them, and share the documents on request.

UIDAI, e-KYC, AEPS, UPI, eSign and DigiLocker form the India Stack. There are four layers in the stack, the consent layer, the cashless layer, the paperless layer and the presence less layer. Each layer is designed to operate independently of the others. The APIs can be used for any kind of hardware, from desktops, to mobile phones, to wearables. Access to each API requires a sign up for that particular service, and there are various payment models.