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, January 20, 2018

12695 - Aadhaar Articles dated 19th January 2018



Sharing biometrics unsafe: Aadhaar opponents argued in Supreme Court
Economic Times
Sharing biometrics unsafe: Aadhaar opponents argued in Supreme Court. By. Samanwaya Rautray. , ET Bureau|. Jan 18, 2018, 11.36 PM ... UIDAI blacklisted some 34,000 operators for issuing false cards. "What happens if you lose your Aadhaar, or it is not accepted or it can't be accessed," he asked.

Even Dhoni's UID details public, list privacy safeguards, says SC - Times of India

Aadhaar: Petitioners challenge process of gathering personal info - Livemint

Aadhaar contradicts the role of the state, say petitioners challenging scheme - The Hindu


Aadhaar: Will face recognition, Virtual ID really add security checks?
Hindu Business Line
Even as the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) proposes to introduce Virtual ID and face recognition as extra layers of security in Aadhaar cards, along with biometric detail including finger-printing and iris identification, questions have been raised about the efficacy of these fresh moves in ...





BMC doctor booked in Aadhaar case
The Hindu
An Assistant Professor of Bangalore Medical College and Research Institute (BMCRI) was booked by the Yeshwantpur police for endorsing documents for people seeking Aadhaar cards without verifying them. The accused, Dr. Ramamurthy M.B., is the third government doctor to be booked in the last ...





A curious case of Aadhaar confusion
The Hindu
Recently, officials at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) were thrown into a tizzy over a curious case. Mallikarjun Gurikar, 26, from Kembhavi in Yadgir district claimed that he had failed to get an Aadhaar number even after nearly 30 attempts across several enrolment centres over six years.
Aadhaar Security: The Emperor Has No Clothes - NewsClick


Aadhaar Adalats prove a boon for rural residents
The Hindu
A woman in her early 50s had been struggling to get widow's pension for some time. The reason: she was unable to provide her Aadhaar number after it was made mandatory for claiming the pension. She had enrolled for Aadhaar in 2012 but could not remember the number. Nor could she enrol again.





Aadhaar-Enabled Starvation in Narendra Modi's 'New India'
The Wire
Ruplal Marandi of Deoghar did not get ration for two months as he was unable to authenticate his fingerprints at the electronic point-of-sale (PoS) machine (for Aadhaar-based biometric authentication). Garhwa's Premani Kunwar succumbed to starvation after she was denied her ration for two months.





A case for Aadhaar
The Hindu
In this country, any cynical portrayal of the government is readily embraced and we all suffer from a “I don't know what this new development really is, but it is dangerous” syndrome (“Can govt. mandate sharing of biometric data, asks SC”, Jan. 18). When someone says Aadhaar is an invasion of privacy, ...





Identify and enroll citizens without documents to Aadhaar: Ministry to Panchayats
MediaNama.com
This last bit becomes significant, because while the UIDAI retains limited information about Aadhaar holders, the SRDHs (State Resident Data Hubs), which currently operate completely outside the laws and in contravention of the Aadhaar Act that prohibits storing Aadhaar data, are known to maintain ...





Transparency in Governance: Telangana to Make Aadhaar Mandatory for Land Deals
The Better India
The process will be made transparent and accountable using Aadhaar reported the Times of India. Under the system, both the buyer and seller will have to make appointments at the registration authority and be physically present on the decided day. The monetary exchange has to completed by that ...





Aadhaar must to access LIC policy
The Hindu
Principal among such insurers is the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), whose newly designed web portal requires mandatory registration of policy holders' Aadhaar details to even access their own policy pages. It also seems to be the first instance of its kind when access to a web page is denied ...





Insider Leaks Biggest Threat to Aadhaar Data Protection: IIT Profs
News18
The IIT professors are of the notion that criticism around Aadhaar is essential. Banerjee said, “Dissent and debate are essential for working out effective solutions and critics and the civil society have done a great job in pointing out the exclusion and disruption that Aadhaar has caused. It would only put a ...
I have sleepless nights over these hacking threats to Aadhaar system: UIDAI CEO - ThePrint


Constitutional Validity of Aadhaar, Day 2
MediaNama.com
The second day of proceedings in the Supreme Court on the constitutionality of Aadhaar began with Advocate Shyam Divan presenting diagrams showing the distinction between deterministic and probabilistic methods of identification and the moments of enrolment and the moments of authentication.

Aadhaar opponents argue that sharing biometric information with third parties is unsafe - Firstpost

What is wrong with sharing address proof with govt: SC on Aadhaar petition - The Asian Age

Nothing voluntary in Aadhaar, Supreme Court told - Free Press Journal


Aadhaar matter: Petitioners raise three issues before SC
ANI News
Earlier on Wednesday, Divan argued that the Aadhaar Card may cause the death of citizens' civil rights. The senior lawyer told the bench that a people's Constitution was being converted into a state's Constitution, adding that it was incorrect to take people's biometric data for Aadhaar Card. Since the ...

QBullet: Aadhaar Case in Final Lap; Togadia Cries Foul Play - The Quint

No Legal Framework For Biometric Data Collected Before Aadhaar Act, Petitioners Argue - BloombergQuint


Telecom Operator Deactivates UIDAI Project Director's SIM For Not Linking It To Aadhaar
Outlook India
After bombarding customers with messages to link their SIM cards with Aadhaar, a telecom major in Bengaluru has been accused of deactivating a man's SIM card under the guise of not linking it to his Aadhaar card. Interestingly, the consumer, Prabhakar HL, is the project director for Aadhaar (UID) in ...
That awkward moment when senior UIDAI official's SIM card is deactivated for 'non linking' with ... - DailyO


Compulsion of Aadhaar spells trouble for parents and students during admission process
Times of India
With an exception of a few schools, where the admissions happen without an immediate need of the card and on the condition to procure one within a stipulated time period, most institutes in the city have stringent rules for producing Aadhaar card during the admission process. Owing to lack of ...





Aadhaar services limping back to normalcy
Times of India
The services of Aadhaar enrolment centers were partially affected on Monday evening with all centers being closed on Tuesday due to the technical glitches. "There was a technical update required for the process that is being carried out on every machine. Since every machine takes not less than 30 to ...
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