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

Thursday, November 2, 2017

12191 - Doctors under one umbrella - Deccan Chronicle

Doctors under one umbrella
DECCAN CHRONICLE. | GILVESTER ASSARY
Published

Oct 9, 2017, 12:51 am IST

The new system, considered part of the E-governance initiative of the MCI, is expected to check the proliferation of quacks.

A convocation ceremony of 2010 batch MBBS students at Government Medical College, Ernakulam. (file pic)

The Medical Council of India (MCI) has decided to bring medical practitioners in the country under one umbrella with a uniform registration system instead of the existing regional ones. The new system, considered part of the E-governance initiative of the MCI, is expected to check the proliferation of quacks. Dr. Suplhi N. of the Kerala Unit of the Indian Medical Association and Dr.  K.A. Raoof, general secretary of the Kerala Government Medical Officers Association detail the merits and demerits of the new system. 

Basically all states have their local registration councils. In Kerala there is the Travancore Cochin Council of Modern Medicine which actually covers the entire state.  The recent announcement of MCI to bring all medical practitioners in the country under a single digital system by issuing a Unique Permanent Registration Number (UPRN), will phase out the state councils. It is a significant step towards checking duplicate registrations, quackery and ensuring regularisation of medical practice and bond discipline. In the existing system, doctors who migrated had to face a host of problems as they had to get fresh registrations in different states. The IMA national leadership has already extended full support for digitising the registry of doctors through UPRN which is similar to Aadhaar. The e-governance initiative has been welcomed widely. It will also be a great relief to doctors practising in different states as they would not require separate licences.

We need comprehensive data on doctors and the number of doctors getting registered  annually. Once this new centralised system is in place, the data will be  at our finger tips.  There are positive implications of the new  system. Through this system, authorities will be able to get the existing strength of doctors. For instance more than 30,000 doctors are registered with the Kerala chapter of IMA but the fact is that the actual number of registered doctors is 60,000 plus. Another problem is that there is no information regarding doctors who have retired from service, gone abroad or expired. Through this nationalised data it would be easy for us to get a clear picture. The linking of registration with Aadhaar cards will also help in getting specific details about doctors; their name, full address and contact details. Quackery is rampant in many parts of the country especially in the North. These quacks often take advantage of the shortage of doctors in states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. There have been reports about people manipulating the data available with the Council. They fraudulently obtain the registration numbers of doctors who have expired and carry out practice. It is difficult to detect such frauds in the existing system.

By linking Aadhaar to registration numbers, the authorities will be able to check this malpractice to a great extent. Many young doctors who want to migrate to US, UK or other countries and take up jobs there have to face a host of problems in getting their registrations confirmed. This can be avoided if there is centralised data. At times doctors have to run from pillar to post to get the registration confirmed and they have to visit Trivandrum for this. The other advantage of the new system is that manpower utilisation will be more effective. However, there is no clarity as to how long the entire exercise will take.
(Dr Sulphi N is State Secretary Elect, IMA)

‘Initiative a step in the right direction’
The MCI move to have unified statistical data of doctors registered in the country is a step in the right direction. It will help in accessing the entire data of doctors in a more accurate manner. The uniform registry will provide information about general practitioners, specialists and super specialists. There will be a proper mapping of the spread of doctors of various categories. This would also help planners in the health sector to formulate policies in a more effective manner. Besides, it would bring out the areas which lack specialists or super specialists and help resolve the shortage of doctors.  For a country which is still grappling with extremely low patient doctor ratio, centralised and concrete information on the availability and non availability of doctors, will go a long way in taking corrective measures in health care delivery infrastructure.
But it is going to be a huge task since all the existing registration of doctors will have to be migrated to the uniform centralised system UPRN.  Doctors will have to apply online for additional qualification in registration for a PG super speciality.
The MCI initiative which is part of the Centre’s current digital mission mode project will help in creating a live data base. At the moment the registration of all doctors is manual in each state. All this would be now maintained in the central data base. There will be no need for a doctor to obtain fresh registration when he decides to practice in another state. He would be able to practice anywhere in the country using the same UPRN.
There are no specific studies on the number of existing doctors in the country. With regular updating, one would be able to get the current data in real time once the new system comes into being. More clarity is required on the process of removing the name of doctors from the existing list. There is also ambiguity over the ID number whether it will be new or connected with Aadhaar. There is a need for an effective mechanism to delete names of doctors who have expired and those who have left the country. Under the present system, registration is renewed every five years and provisional registration is given.
Travancore Cochin Council of Modern Medicine had recently carried out a massive exercise compiling almost all data till recent years. All original certificates were examined and holographic certification was also introduced. There is uncertainty over the verification process. We are of the opinion that once the new system comes into being, all registered doctors should be exempted from physical verification of the certificates. If physical verification is made mandatory, then MCI should make arrangements for special sitting in important cities and districts.
(Dr  K.A. Raoof is general secretary, Kerala Government Medical Officers Association (KGMOA)
(As told to Gilvester Assary)

Tags: medical council of india, indian medical association
Location: India, Kerala

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