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

Friday, December 1, 2017

12443 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 30th Nov 2017



Economic Times
BENGALURU: Amazon's customer care agents are asking its users to reveal their Aadhaar number as an identity proof to track lost packages, according to several customers quoted in an online report. This move poses question of a private company mandatorily asking a customer to reveal the details of ...



Economic Times
New Delhi, Describing Aadhaar as a major "power" to bring about an "irreversible change" in the common man's life, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday said that ... "By linking Aadhaar to Mobile and Jan Dhan, we have created such a system that could not have been imagined few years back.



Economic Times
Because we didn't meet our deadline of December 31 to link Aadhaar Cards (numbers) to our bank accounts," Vadra said in a Facebook post. "What will be the outcome? This will lead to ... Do we have proper laws and enforcement to deal with the privacy of the Aadhaar Card? There are numerous such ...



Inc42 Media
Experts believe using Aadhaar as identification proof by a private company is not described as one of the five use cases of the card, which include Jan Dhan accounts, pension, and social welfare schemes among others. They further believe that the use of Aadhaar as an identity proof in online retail ...



Moneycontrol.com
Recently the government directed that all mutual fund investments must be linked to Aadhaar numbers by December 31. Failing which, you may not be able to transact in your fund folios. To avoid such a situation ensure that you link Aadhaar with your mutual fund investments. As you are aware that ...



Moneycontrol.com
In addition, the regulator is said to have slapped a penalty on the company for discreetly opening Payments Bank accounts of customers while carrying out Aadhaar verification of their mobile numbers. The probe was ordered after complaints of prima facie violations were found to be valid, said the report ...



Times of India
"It is quite possible to make the cost of digital transactions via Aadhaar zero with greater adoption. But the bigger challenge is how to make small value transactions —sometimes as meagre as Rs 10 - viable: as the primary aim of Aadhaar is financial inclusion and serving the underprivileged sections of ...






Livemint
During the course of his speech, the Prime Minister hinted that the NDA will broaden the use of Aadhaar to fight against the menace of black money and the government would use it against benami property as well. “Aadhaar will be used against benami properties also and this will become a big weapon ...






Kashmir Reader
Srinagar: Airtel mobile consumers have to be cautious while getting their phone numbers linked with their Aadhaar ID, as the company is opening Airtel payments bank accounts in ... Hassan, 71, said that he had his mobile phone number linked with his Aadhaar ID at an Airtel outlet in Khanyar, Srinagar.






Gadgets To Use
Have you lost or misplaced your Aadhaar card or Aadhaar enrolment id? What can you do in such a situation? Visit the Aadhaar enrolment center? Well, here's the hassle-free way to get a duplicate Aadhaar card from the comfort of your home. With the increasing need of Aadhaar, losing or misplacing ...




The Quint
Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi was at the centre of a raging controversy on Wednesday, 29 November, after his name was spotted in a register for “non-Hindus” during a visit to Somnath temple. Rahul's visit to seek Lord Shiva's blessing at the famous temple flared into a major row as he was put ...





Financial Express
The fact that some government departments have inadvertently leaked information about people's names, addresses, bank accounts and Aadhaar numbers—though never the actual biometrics that reside in the Aadhaar database—is certainly worrisome, even if the Aadhaar Act tries to protect against ...
Data Protection - The Shillong Times



Livemint
Hyderabad: The government got a pat on the back for its efforts to push for more digital payments and biometrics-based Aadhaar from the Better Than Cash Alliance (BTCA), a programme under the United Nations Capital Development Fund, at the ongoing Global Entrepreneurship Summit (GES) 2017 ...



Times of India
NEW DELHI: Authority of India (UIDAI) has ordered an investigation against Bharti Airtel for alleged violations of the Aadhaar Act and is threatening to slap a financial penalty for opening Airtel Payments Bank accounts of customers surreptitiously while carrying out Aadhaar verification of their mobile ...






Economic Times
Another move which is being considered by the government is linking of property with Aadhaar. This will not only bring transparency to the sector which is the first and last resort of black money but also soften home prices. Union Housing Minister Hardeep Puri recently indicated that Aadhaar linkage with ...








International Business Times, India Edition
Aadhaar-based payment transactions have nearly doubled to Rs 2,047 crore in September from Rs 1,409 crore in July and Rs 793 crore in April. This surge is driven by cheaper devices that enable the Aadhaar-based payment system. According to bankers, after struggling for three years, the Aadhaar ...





MediaNama.com
For example, how does Nehmat Kaur, who did not consent to linking her Aadhaar with her bank account prove that she hasn't given her consent? It's her word versus that of ... A photocopy of my #Aadhaar was on your records given long ago but I specifically told my branch to not link it. — Nehmat Kaur ...






Times of India (blog)
Amazon has asked customers to upload their 12-digit unique identity number to track lost packages, while Bengaluru-based car rental platform Zoomcar has said it won't accept bookings without Aadhaar as proof of identity. Currently, Aadhaar is mandatory for consumers to get government subsidies, ...








Firstpost
One of the biggest issues with the implementation of the scheme was the attempt to link Aadhaar cards to farmer loan accounts, which saw several goof-ups by banks such as multiple persons being assigned the same Aadhaar number. Underlining just how poorly the rollout of loan waivers was ...





India Tribune
Modi also commented on Aadhaar, the world's largest biometric based digital database. He said Aadhaar covers over 1.15 billion people and digitally authenticates over 40 million transactions daily. “We now digitally provide monetary benefits of various government schemes to the beneficiaries through ...