AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12054 - Maharashtra to go cashless in rural areas, but where’s the internet?

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

Saturday, September 16, 2017

12054 - Maharashtra to go cashless in rural areas, but where’s the internet? - Hindustan Times

Maharashtra to go cashless in rural areas, but where’s the internet?

This drive will start from the state’s rural areas, but achieving the goal is a herculean task and is likely to stay on paper.

MUMBAI Updated: Sep 14, 2017 16:03 Ist

Faisal Malik

Hindustan Times

In a bid to promote a cashless economy, the Maharashtra government has planned to stop accepting cash for any of its payments, including fees, taxes, penalties in the coming months. This drive will start from the state’s rural areas, but achieving the goal is a herculean task and is likely to stay on paper. HT looks at the government’s plan and hurdles ahead in a reality check of the announcement.

What is the plan ?

The plan is to start installing biometric machines in all 29,000 gram panchayats and tehsildar offices in the state.

These machines, with the help of BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app — a biometric-based payment system, will allow users to make payments digitally by authenticating the biometric details of the person with Aadhaar database.

The BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app basically links citizens’ Aadhaar number and fingerprint to complete a transaction in a safe and secure manner. To complete the transactions, the person concerned will only have to submit his Aadhaar details and the amount he or she wants to pay in the BHIM-Aadhaar Pay app and give his thumb impression to authenticate his biometric details. Once the identity of the person is authenticated, the amount will be deducted from his account. The state has procured 1.40 lakh biometric machines for the project.

The drive will be taken up at a later stage in urban areas, where existing credit card and other modes of cashless system will be continued.

The main hurdles

The basic requisite to run the digital transaction system – internet – is still missing on ground.

Most of the rural areas are yet to have internet access or adequate data to run the system, and government offices are no exception to it.

The state government has undertaken the Mahanet project, to connect all gram panchayats with optical fibre cable network to provide sufficient bandwidth for transactions. But, this project will take one to two years tocomplete.

So far, the government claims that around 15,000 gram panchayats have been connected with optical fibre network, and the state has set a target to connect the rest of the 14,000 gram panchayats by the end of 2018. This also means shifting to cashless transactions may take at least another year to be completed.

“It is possible that the government will roll out the project in many phases even in rural pockets,” said a senior government official, requesting anonymity.

The other challenge is that for this cashless system to work, everyone will require a bank account that is linked with their Aadhaar details. Most of the banks are still in the process of updating their customers’ Aadhaar number in the bank account details.

The only relief for the government is its Aadhaar card coverage, is reaching nearly 95 % for adults. The 6-18 age group has also been covered by 90%. The state is struggling only with the under-six age group, which is yet to cross 50% enrolment, the officials pointed out.