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

Sunday, September 10, 2017

11998 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 7th August 2017



The Indian Express
Last April, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MoCA) had asked individual stakeholders to obtain Aadhaar to weed out bogus entities and identify shell ...


NDTV
Aadhaar is a prerequisite for many important tasks according to latest rules. From filing income tax returns (ITRs) or submitting applications to obtain ...


NDTV
200 Crore By Linking Aadhaar To Pension Schemes, Says Jharkhand Government ... 200 crore by seeding the Aadhaar (UID) with the accounts of the ...





Firstpost
Now that the government has set a new deadline of 31 December for linking Aadhaar and PAN, the new extension date will be a relief to many of ...





Hindustan Times
The government is pushing for wide use of the 12-digit Aadhaar number that critics and activists are opposing over fears of possible data breach and ...





The Shillong Times
SHILLONG: Several complaints have emerged from the applicants of Aadhaar in Laban that the Headman's signature in application form is required ...





Daily News & Analysis
UIDAI is inviting applications from young engineering graduates to work with Aadhaar, which at present, covers more than 90% of the population.





Business Today
Linkage of Aadhaar and PAN will help us in early claim settlement. For example, now, we struggle to establish the identity of the claimant and have to ...





India.com
New Delhi, Sept 7: Identity documents like Aadhaar card, driving licence, passport or pan card will be mandatory to book ticket of a domestic flight after ...
Now ID proof mandatory for booking domestic air tickets - International Business Times, India Edition





BGR India
HP has launched a new “Made in India” tablet called the Pro 8. The tablet has been launched at a price of Rs 19,374. The HP Pro 8 has been ...





The Hans India
Hyderabad: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched an Aadhaar Mobile Van, which has been introduced to provide Aadhaar ...





Moneycontrol.com
Benefits of digitisation have started showing on the Indian economy. Aadhaar has clearly emerged as the government's trump card in winning crucial ...





Times of India
However, many students still sounded unhappy since they wanted the NU to keep the fields of caste and Aadhaar optional rather than compulsory.





BW Businessworld
... and being Aadhaar enabled, support mobile based payments via various mechanisms, such as wallet, UPI (Unified Payment Interface) and USSD.





Bloomberg
... come to grips with it,” said Nandan Nilekani, who ran India's biometric Aadhaar identity program and was recently appointed chairman of Asia's No.





Firstpost
The problem arises because the National Payment Corporation of India systems link the latest bank account seeded with Aadhaar to DBT payments.





Economic Times
Fees earned through bill payments, peer to peer transfers through ATMs and also card less withdrawal through Aadhaar could help them attract more ...





NDTV Profit
... past employment details, reference checks, identity details with the help of PAN or Aadhaar cards, criminal records, database and media searches, ...





Economic Times
"As part of the broader Digital India initiative that includes Aadhaar and GST integration, we have to create large-scale customised solutions. This is ...





Finextra (blog)
Examples include Aadhaar UID in India, NADRA in Pakistan, Biometric voter registration in Tanzania and others in Nigeria, Kenya, Bangladesh, ...





Times of India
... and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan to buy property for self-living, obtain driving licences, receive PAN and Aadhaar IDs, etc.





YourStory.com
It is able to study a prospective customer's bank history and verify their Aadhaar details before underwriting a policy or disbursing a loan. The company ...





Greater Kashmir
“We have been facing so many problems due to non-issuance of Aadhaar cards as it has become mandatory now. However, the authorities are least ...