AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12792 - NDTV Investigation: 26,000 Lose Access To Food After Delhi Aadhaar Move

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 27, 2018

12792 - NDTV Investigation: 26,000 Lose Access To Food After Delhi Aadhaar Move - NDTV

NDTV Investigation: 26,000 Lose Access To Food After Delhi Aadhaar Move

Many of those who did not receive rations were told to come after January 15 as the government had declared it would introduce iris scan and one time password from that day to solve the fingerprint issue. However, till date there are no signs of it, leaving people helpless.

Delhi | Written by Sukirti Dwivedi | Updated: January 27, 2018 10:16 IST

In almost every household it is the women who queue up for ration

NEW DELHI:

HIGHLIGHTS

Delhi government introduced fingerprint scanners in ration shops
Technical issues cause large number of mismatches
Corrective measures promised, yet to be delivered

For 40-year-old Maya Devi's family in Delhi, survival has become a struggle as she has not been able to get rations for the month of January. The fingerprints of all four family members are not getting recognised for authentication in the Aadhaar Card-based electronic Point of Sale (e-PoS) device at the government ration shop.

She is not the only one. These devices were set up in all 2,255 ration shops across Delhi from January 1 by the Delhi government in order to verify ration cardholders' identities by matching their fingerprints against the Aadhaar database over the internet and clampdown on corruption. Non-recognition of fingerprints and connectivity issues in machines have been depriving many of their rations.

Maya Devi's family of four has lost out on 4 kg rice and 16 kg wheat due to the Aadhaar glitch.

Since each ration card holder is entitled to 5 kg of ration, Maya Devi's family of four has lost out on 4 kg rice and 16 kg wheat. These subsidised grains are a crucial source of nutrition for the family whose sole breadwinner is her husband, a construction labourer who earns only Rs.5,000 a month. Maya Devi says, "I had gone to Shahpur Jat to get ration and they said my fingerprint does not match so I won't get ration. Then my husband took leave from work and both my children skipped school to go and even that failed so we didn't get ration. It is a loss... at the ration shop we could get 5 kg of rations at Rs.

45 but outside the same thing would cost us up to Rs.200."

While 1 kg rice costs Rs.3 at the ration shop, the same is sold at Rs.35 outside. For 1 kg wheat, the cost is Rs.2 at the ration shop but in order to buy it from outside one has to shell-out Rs.20.

According to data provided by the Delhi government, out of the over 15 lakh ration card holders who attempted to withdraw rations, a majority of 98 per cent succeeded. But the failure of 2 per cent, though small in percentage terms is a huge number of 26,201 people.

Aadhaar-linked fingerprint machines were introduced in Delhi's ration shops on January 1.

At the Krishna Nagar ration shop in East Delhi, 50-year-old Bhagwati waited for three hours till 6 in the evening to get ration for her family of five as the device was not working due to lack of signals for connectivity. She said, "The earlier system was better where we just had to sign and take the ration. This new system is the worst."

Food Supplies Minister Imran Hussain claimed, "The system is still under trial and wherever there are connectivity issues. We are trying to resolve them by providing antennas and replacing SIM cards."

But ration dealers disagree. Saurabh Gupta, Secretary of Delhi Sarkaari Ration Dealers Sangh said, "I am trying to connect the machine even with my own WiFi but despite standing in a proper lane it is not connecting. It is unable to catch the WiFi signal. BEL (Bharat Electronics Limited) company's engineers came and gave an antenna which they placed quite higher but still the machine did not get any network."

The Delhi government says 98 per cent of people managed to get their rations successfully.

In almost every household it is the women who queue up for ration. Maya Devi said, "Even if the husband's fingerprint matches he won't keep taking leaves from work to buy ration and kids won't keep skipping school. It leaves just me and if my fingerprint doesn't match... what is the point of this machine?"

COMMENTS

The government circular says that in cases of authentication failure shopkeepers are allowed to distribute ration manually but only up to 8 per cent customers attached to the shop. If sale needs to exceed 8 per cent, a government appointed Special Officer will have to be deployed at the shop.

The Delhi government carried out a pilot project for these PoS machines in 97 ration shops across Delhi in December. On December 15, the Delhi Sarkaari Ration Dealers Sangh wrote a letter to the government informing them about the connectivity issues in machines and fingerprints of a large number of people not getting matched but the government never responded to it and launched it across all shops from January 1.