AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12832 - Aadhaar body refuses info on money spent on publicity

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, February 19, 2018

12832 - Aadhaar body refuses info on money spent on publicity - Hindustan Times

Aadhaar body refuses info on money spent on publicity

UIDAI’s chief executive officer (CEO), deputy director general (media), assistant director general (ADG) and central public information officers (CPIO) did not respond to e-mails seeking their comment

INDIA Updated: Feb 18, 2018 08:12 Ist

Sarika Malhotra

Hindustan Times, New Delhi

A man looks on as another puts his hand on a 'Slap Pad' for recording of fingerprints during the data collecting process for a pilot project of Unique Identification Authority of India.(AFP File Photo)

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has declined to divulge details of the money it spent on advertising and promoting the 12-digit biometrics-based identification number, Aadhaar, over the past eight years, according to economist Reetika Khera, who had filed an application under the Right to Information Act seeking the aforementioned details.

In her application dated November 15, 2017, Khera had sought the list of enrolment agencies empanelled since the creation of UIDAI in 2009 and the amount spent in each financial year for each agency. The UIDAI responded on January 3, 2018, but refused to divulge the details of expenses incurred on advertising and promotion.

HT has a copy of the RTI application and the UIDAI’s response.

Himanshu, associate professor in Economics at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU, said: “There is no reason why the government should be guarded about sharing this basic information. It is not a state secret that may have any harmful ramifications. After all, public money is being used for this makeover and branding.”

The UIDAI also did not spell out the reason for its refusal and mentioned Section 8(1)’s clauses D and J of the RTI Act as reasons for not giving the information.

The two clauses rule that an information officer can reject an application if it seeks information including commercial confidence, trade secrets and intellectual property, “the disclosure of which would harm the competitive position of a third party”; and personal information, “the disclosure of which has no relationship to any public activity or interest, or which would cause unwarranted invasion of the privacy of the individual”.

The RTI application was filed based on news reports from July 2014, which claimed that the UIDAI had received a go-ahead from the government to spend up to ~30 crore a year on “image makeover” and “branding campaigns” for Aadhaar. A 2010 memorandum of the Planning Commission had said vendors and agencies would be requisitioned by the UIDAI to execute marketing and communication campaigns on the ground. It also mentioned that a lot of expenses and operational resources will flow into these campaigns.

Khera said that the UIDAI’s response is worrying. “As per the RTI Act, the UIDAI should be disclosing this (information) proactively on its website. The disclosure is in public interest and the nature of the information is such that it cannot be denied to Parliament.”