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

Monday, January 29, 2018

12805 - In Telangana, pension & NREGA hit Aadhaar wall - Times of India


In Telangana, pension & NREGA hit Aadhaar wall
U Sudhakar Reddy| TNN | Jan 29, 2018, 05:28 IST

AADHAAR

HYDERABAD: Unique Identification Authority of Indiachief executive officer (CEO) Ajay Bhushan Pandey on Sunday, during an interaction on Twitter on 'Data Privacy Day', categorically said no one can be denied ration or pension or any other entitlement due to lack of Aadhaar.

Contrary to what UIDAI has been advocating, at least 10% social pensioners and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (NREGA) Scheme workers inTelangana are struggling to get benefits due to Aadhaar authentication issues every month.

According to Telangana Benefit Disbursement Portal, authentication success ratio in 2018 with regard to NREGA and social pensions is 86.14%, whereas it was 90.99% in December, 2017, and 91.87% in November, 2017, indicating failure of at least 10% authentication.

Of 10-15 lakh beneficiaries, every month at least a lakh beneficiaries were facing trouble, mostly inordinate delay or sometimes denial of benefits. The situation is similar in Andhra Pradesh too. Biometric mismatch, invalid biometrics, biometrics missing from the central depository, duplicate biometrics, lack of internet facilities and technological issues were the major reasons for authentication failure. Officials claim some of the failed transactions were not genuine. In Andhra Pradesh, a large number of Aadhaar numbers were being cancelled every month by UIDAI. Interestingly, there are cases where Aadhaar numbers don't exist in servers/database.

A study, conducted by NALSAR student Srujana Bej in Hyderabad, had revealed that 10% households were now excluded due to Aadhaar-based biometric authentication system and a majority of reported errors were due to technological components.

'No one shall be denied benefits'

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey said on Twitter, "Section 7 of Aadhaar Act says for entitlement like PDS, Aadhaar number is required. It also says if someone doesn't have Aadhaar, benefits and subsidies can be given through alternate means of identification. The government of India has issued circulars on this. No one shall be denied any benefits if violations are taking place at the local level. The matter has to be taken to the local authority. It has to be rectified by local authorities. As far as UIDAI is concerned, there shall be no denial."

Telangana rural development department joint commissioner B Saidulu told TOI, "Authentication failure in 10% cases is an exaggerated figure. There could be 2-3% cases. If anyone in the family is facing fingerprint (biometric) issues, we are authorising other wage seekers on the job card to take the money. If the problem persists, payment mode can change from postal department to bank accounts."

TOP COMMENTHello Aadhaar Scammers, Income Tax India, IOCL, Finance Ministry, PMO,
Can you please get into a room tonight and sort out, if there is contradictions among laws passed by other department with a... Read More

Selling Aadhaar Data
Civil supplies department said it was not denying ration to any beneficiary. "Authentication failures are few in the public distribution system as 100% Aadhaar seeding has been achieved," civil supplies commissioner C V Anand told TOI.

"In remote areas, due to internet problems, biometric verification could not be done at times. Of 17,000 PDS shops in Telangana, perhaps 100 to 200 shops in remote hamlets may be facing net connectivity issues. We have issued instructions to PDS dealers not to deny ration (to beneficiaries) due to lack of authentication as it is a serious matter," he added.
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