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, November 5, 2017

12270 - CIA biggest beneficiary of Aadhaar, says Swamy; GST not behind slowdown - Ultra news

CIA biggest beneficiary of Aadhaar, says Swamy; GST not behind slowdown

Sreejiraj Eluvangal 2017-10-28 POLITICS, SOCIETY

BJP leader and libertarian politician Subramanian Swamy said he believes that the design of Aadhaar system exposes core data to ‘American intelligence agencies’ and expressed consternation that the government was continuing with the unique identification number scheme.

Speaking to Mirror Now on the controversies around the linking of bank accounts, tax accounts and mobile numbers to Aadhaar, Swamy said he was not against linking them per se, but that the Aadhaar infrastructure was not suited for the purpose.

Specifically, he said, the decision to go with an American company to build some of the core software used in the system made it vulnerable to misuse by American intelligence agencies.

“I am opposing it not on the grounds of technology, but on the grounds that security is impossible the way we’ve gone about it,” Swamy said.

“We’ve literally sold our interests.. we’ve risked our interests rather, by going to other people. The entire biological profile of Indian individuals will be available via computers to the Americans,” he added.

Swamy is not the first to make the allegations, which stemmed from revelations made by Wikileaks about CIA’s links to an American firm that developed some core software used in the Aadhaar project. The CPIM too had highlighted the issue in 2013.

“If you can have a foolproof system by which all this can be linked, I would welcome it. But the way we gave the software to black-listed American company (for development).. the biggest beneficiaries of this Aadhaar and all this linking up and, earlier on, Mr Nilekani’s mad ideas, they are all favorable to the American intelligence interests,” Swamy said.

He also expressed his consternation that the government seemed determined to go ahead with the scheme created under the previous, Congress Party-led government.

“If the government is determined, like they were in GST despite my warnings.. If the government is determined to do something despite the best advice, then what can I do,” he said.

GST NOT BEHIND SLOWDOWN

Swamy was also asked about the implementation of the revolutionary Goods and Services Tax in India.

The tax system is meant to simply the myriad taxes paid by businesses in India and replace them with a single levy. However, it has increased the cost of compliance for small businesses and traders as it is harder to evade.

The Congress Party, which tried hard to impose the system during its rule, has now termed it the Gabbar Singh tax after a dacoit in the hit movie Sholay.

Swamy and some others within the BJP had opposed the government’s decision to implement the tax policy now, but the leadership led by Narendra Modi was keen to restart India’s stalled economic reforms.

“I wouldn’t blame the slowdown on GST, but I certainly think GST has harassed a lot of people. I had written to the Prime Minister we should do it after 2019, but Mr Jaitley was in no mood (to do so),” he said.

He said a decision to rebase key indices and economic indicators towards the end of the Congress’ tenure in government had helped mask the economic decline that the country had already come under.

“The slowdown has been going on from the UPA period. It’s only because the finance ministry changed the base of the price index, it didn’t appear that the decline had started from 2011. When Mr Chidambaram returned to the (finance) ministry after his disastrous tenure in the home ministry, this started happening,” he said.

Read more at https://ultra.news/s-e/34250/cia-biggest-beneficiary-aadhaar-says-swamy-gst-not-behind-slowdown#FphwEOVwXEY4MVe8.99