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

Tuesday, December 12, 2017

12482 - Aadhaar: Enrolment, correction a painful task for applicants - The Hindu



DECEMBER 10, 2017 00:08 IS

More centres in post offices, banks to be set up soon: official
More than seven years after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) began issuing Aadhaar, which has now become vital for everyone from the new-borns to super senior citizens, the enrolment and correction remain a painful task for the applicants.

The vast network of enrolment and correction service, which ideally should be easily accessible to people at this crucial juncture when linking of SIM cards, bank accounts and other public services is under way, has apparently shrunk to a handful of centres in Vijayawada.

Ironically, the State government, which is highly dependent on the Aadhaar database and mandates it for services at the transport and revenue departments, citizen services and many such, has left several defunct permanent enrolment centres (PEC) in Mee Seva centres unattended.

While the reason behind it is officially not disclosed, it is said most of the enrolment agencies under the State’s Directorate of Electronic Services Delivery (ESD) which is a UIDAI authorised Registrar, either had their biometric devices spoilt or the enrolment agent’s user identity inactivated by the server leading to mistakes while enrolling the citizens’ profiles.
Meanwhile, the UIDAI has begun expanding the enrolment centres network by roping in banks. In a couple of months, four public sector banks started enrolment and correction centres in their premises.

Unaware of the facility, a majority of the people from across Krishna district are making a beeline to Karvy Data Management, Labbipet, one of the Permanent Enrolment Centres. Those visiting the Mee Seva centres in the city are also being directed to Karvy.

“My date of birth is wrong in the Aadhaar. Along with driving licence application, I have submitted my Aadhaar card, which is mandatory, transfer and SSC certificates that have the correct date of birth. As the Transport department had used the Aadhaar database to access my profile, the DoB is taken from it and my licence application has been rejected citing underage,” says T. Krishna of One-Town at the Mee Seva centre near the IGMC Stadium where only corrections are being done.
“I am unable to update the DoB online on UIDAI website and have come here,” says Krishna.

In the Karvy building’s basement, all the woes of the Aadhaar applicants including kids and senior citizens from district come forth.
Though the centre has been the only PEC issuing Aadhaar persistently since the beginning, it could do only a limited number of 100 to 150 applications these days.
“We are currently processing about 150 enrolment and correction applications per day on the three computers available. The fourth counter’s user id was inactivated by the server about six weeks ago and several attempts to get it activated turned futile,” Karvy’s supervisor Mr. V. Kishore told The Hindu.

Hence people travel several kilometres and reach the centre at 6 am. While half of them return disappointed, the ones who got the applications would fill them and stand in a queue till 9.30 AM when the centre is opened. They then will be asked to come later in the day at a particular time as it takes at least 15 minutes for each application to be processed.
“There are 51 PECs in the districts and nine at the Mee Seva centres and 16 AP Online centres are currently running services depending on the availability of the biometric devices and user ids,” district’s e-District Manager PSNV Kotaiah said.
“Most of the agent ids get inactivated by the server when the agent processes applications with mistakes. Also, the biometric devices are only provided once by the UIDAI. If it gets damaged, it is the responsibility of the agent to get new ones. Many agents are not doing so,” he said.
Also, at some PECs, attendants are allegedly collecting more than the prescribed fee as correction charges. Many private enrolment centres are charging ₹100 including ₹50 for application and ₹50 for processing.
“The rush at the centres has increased of late which could be the reason behind the delay in processing of applications,” said an official of UIDAI at the Regional Office, Hyderabad.
“To deal with it, the government is soon going to set up more enrolment centres in all post offices across AP and also select branches of public and private sector banks,” he said.
At Karvy, more than 200 people come in the morning for applications and an equal number of them keep coming unaware of the procedure and limited issuance of applications. At the banks, about 40 to 100 applicants are served depending on the number of computers available.

OTHER REPORTS
BANKS COME TO THE RESCUE
VIJAYAWADA
The banks in the city have come to the rescue of those seeking Aadhaar enrolment and update services.
Following the orders of the UIDAI, four banks in the city have extended space and infrastructure for the enrolment desks in their respective branches.
The Canara Bank in Moghalrajpuram, the Corporation Bank in One-Town, the City Union Bank in Governorpet and the Syndicate Bank in Buckinghampet are processing the enrolment and correction applications on a daily basis.
Unfortunately, many people, particularly those coming from rural areas, are unaware of these enrolment centres.
Also, the banks are not publicising the facility in their premises as they are already burdened with the maintenance of the special service centres for Aadhaar.
At the Canara Bank, the enrolment desk has been put right in the customer area. This has been causing inconvenience to the bank staff and customers but about 40 persons have been able to get enrolment on working days since September.
“The permanent enrolment facility will be put in a new premises nearby. At present, we are only providing space. For the new facility, we will rope in retired employees or some of our staff. The facility will be launched in January,” the bank manager said.
More banks, post offices and other government offices will start setting up enrolment facility in 2018.
An elderly person’s travails
86-year-old Paladugu Narayana Rao was on his third trip to the enrolment centre of Karvy in Labbipet to get his biometric data updated.
“I was told that my fingerprints need to be updated as the ones updated five years ago are not recognisable. I came here twice but failed to get an application. On the third consecutive day, finally, I grabbed a copy of the application,” Mr. Narayana Rao who was once a farmer says.
When asked if all this is not troublesome at this age, he says “We got used to such situations with the government.”
Considering my age, the staff allowed me to stand first in the long queue to the counter and I am hopeful of the job being done today,” the super senior citizen says.
A difficult baby steps for her
Chinta Meghana is just a nine-month baby but came twice to the Karvy enrolment centre from Ibrahimpatnam.
On the first day, her mother and grandmother could not get a copy of the application. On the second day too they could not and were asked to come again after two days at 7 AM.
“There is no enrolment centre in our village. To get benefits from the government for my child we were asked to submit Aadhaar,” her mother explains.
“To get Aadhaar, I have to get my address changed. I got married about two years ago and my address remains unchanged. To update it, I was asked to submit either the copy of the marriage invitation or a certificate from local MRO. My husband has an Aadhaar but his card is not being accepted here,” she said.