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, November 25, 2017

12426 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 24th Nov 2017



Economic Times
As many as 500 missing children have been traced over the last few months through Aadhaar, the CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Ajay Bhushan Pandey, said today. ... Total Aadhaar base currently stands at 1.19 billion, Pandey said adding that99 per cent of adults have Aadhaar.



Economic Times
Much of the opposition to the use of Aadhaar cards for delivering government services on grounds of privacy being violated is a mere nuisance, Union ... "While people need to provide all personal information to a foreign country just for travel, all one needs to share to get an Aadhaar Card is their name ...






Times of India
The process of linking your bank account with Aadhaar is very simple and can be done online. The process for all banks is almost same. You can link your bank account with Aadhaar either online through net banking or offline by visiting the bank branch and submitting the Aadhaar linking request form.



The Better India
Amidst a raging debate on the validity and omnipresence of the Aadhaar program, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has revealed that more than 200 central and state government websites, including educational institutes, publicly displayed personal details such as names, addresses ...



Times of India
On the left hand side of the page, you will see a "Feed Aadhaar No." option, click on it. Once you click a pop-up page will appear where you will have to feed in your name as in Aadhaar card, Aadhaar number, EPIC number, registered mobile number and or registered email address. After entering all the ...






Times of India
Panaji: The state government on Thursday issued a circular making it compulsory for government employees working at the secretariat to link their Aadhaar number with the biometric attendance system. The circular issued by general administration department (GAD) under secretary, Varsha Naik gave ...






NDTV
CBSE has made it mandatory to have an Aadhaar card to apply for the exam. Such candidates who already have an Aadhaar card will have to enter their aadhaar number in their application form. Those who have applied for their Aadhaar but have not received it yet will have to provide Aadhaar ...
JEE Main: CBSE publishes brochure - Mathrubhumi English



Times Now
"According to an affidavit from the government to the Supreme Court (regarding linking of Aadhaar and bank accounts) is 31st of March next year so if anybody calls from the bank, tell them 'stop threatening me, it is against the law to do so'.," said Faye D'Souza, Executive Editor on the Urban Debate.






Deccan Chronicle
Hyderabad: The Telangana state government is in trouble with the latest order of the Centre on linking of the Aadhaar number of beneficiaries with Central government schemes. The Centre had extended the deadline from September to December 31. In a letter to the Telangana state government, Ms ...






Financial Express
While duplicate and fake accounts were weeded out using Aadhaar in both cases, in the case of ration shops, provisions were also made to ensure—this is not fully complete as yet—that all ration shops had biometric-capture devices to authenticate the person buying rations by querying the Aadhaar ...






The New Indian Express
VIJAYAWADA: T Durga Prasad has been standing in queue for an Aadhaar application form with his three-year-old daughter for close to four hours. “This is my second visit to Karvy Centre this week,” he says. His previous visit was apparently unsuccessful as only 150 application forms are distributed ...






Kasmir Monitor
New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said direct transfer of government benefits using technology, bank accounts and biometric identifier Aadhaar has helped save USD 10 billion in subsidies. Addressing the Global Conference on Cyber Space here, he said technology breaks barriers ...






The New Indian Express
COIMBATORE: Private engineering colleges can no longer have same faculty members working in more than one technical institution during the Anna University affiliation process. The University has made Aadhaar number and PAN number of the faculty members mandatory during the affiliation ...






The New Indian Express
CHENNAI: The Madras High Court has directed the Superintendent of the Central Prison in Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru and the Regional Officer of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to furnish the original finger prints of former Chief Minister and AIADMK general secretary J ...






Gadgets To Use
Vodafone has deployed two mobile vans in Rajasthan in order to facilitate doorstep services in rural areas. The Vodafone Mobile Vans will travel to villages and smaller towns of Rajasthan offering doorstep facility to upgrade SIMs to 4G network and Aadhaar linking with SIM card. Vodafone Mobile Vans ...



Deccan Herald
Naco officials believe doing so helps them track those discontinuing medicines. Around 16% of the three lakh HIV-affected people in the state have dropped out of the life-saving treatment provided by the government. Health activists fear that linking of the treatment with patients' Aadhaar numbers will ...






Firstpost
Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis' dream of delivering the country's first, blemishless, Aadhaar-linked farm loan waiver scheme has turned into a nightmare. Banks have derailed his plan to such an extent that Fadnavis will not recognise his own pet project when the disbursal kicks off in ...






Newburgh Gazette
Yesterday, at the fifth edition of the Global Conference on Cyberspace in New Delhi, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an all-new application- 'UMANG.' PM Modi also added few words to DigitalIndia scheme saying that "DigitalIndia is the world's largest programme employing technology to ...



Business Today
From the verdict recognising the right to privacy as a fundamental right, it emerges that the case about Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12-digit Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar numbers is deeply linked with the Supreme Court's infamous verdict in ADM Jabalpur versus Shivkant Shukla ...






The New Indian Express
New Delhi, Nov 23 (PTI) The Delhi High Court today sought to know from a journalist the rules and guidelines they adhered to while conducting a sting operation. Justice Mukta Gupta also wished to know whether a sting operation, which had shown that it was possible to obtain two separate Aadhaar ...






Times of India
NEW DELHI: In the midst of a contentious debate over privacy and the government's efforts to promote digitisation through Aadhaar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed confidence that a fine balance could be struck between openness and national security. "Surely, we can walk the fine balance ...



The FinExpress
Aadhaar linking Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana: Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana (VPBY) as a pension scheme for senior citizens. The Finance Ministry said, 'Aadhaar is mandatory for subscribers registered under the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana.' Central Finance Ministry said, 'Subscribers ...






Kasmir Monitor
Reports said that BJP MLA Ravinder Raina allegedly beat up two persons, one of them a handicapped man, working at an Aadhaar centre in Rajouri. ... Khalid Hussain (28) and Tariq Aziz (23), according to Indian Express, alleged that Raina assaulted them inside the Aadhaar enrolment centre on the ...