AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 12848 - Non-renewal of Aadhaar work to cost 48,000 jobs: CSC

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

Wednesday, February 21, 2018

12848 - Non-renewal of Aadhaar work to cost 48,000 jobs: CSC - ZEE Biz

Non-renewal of Aadhaar work to cost 48,000 jobs: CSC

Out of 1.19 billion Aadhaar numbers generated by UIDAI, around 180 million had been generated by enrollment centres at CSCs. Image source: IANS

By ZeeBiz WebTeam

Updated: Tue, Feb 20, 2018

09:37 am

ZeeBiz WebDesk

CSC e-Governance Services Ltd, which runs Common Service Centers (CSCs) across the country, has started discussions with a few state governments to explore the possibilities of absorbing people from its franchisee centres who were associated with Aadhaar enrollment.

Earlier this month, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) refused to renew its Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with CSCs saying, "In view of the enormous number of complaints of corruption and enrollment process violations against Aadhaar enrollment/update centres under CSC e-Gov, it may not be possible to extend/renew MoU with CSC."

Dinesh Kumar Tyagi, chief executive officer, CSC e-Governance Services, strongly refuted the allegations and said CSCs have nothing to do with the leak of the Aadhaar data.

Tyagi told DNA Money the move by UIDAI to not renew the MoU may lead to a job loss for 36,000-48,000 people as 12,000 centres have been rendered close because of this. One centre employs about 3-4 people and every centre has incurred an investment of Rs 1.5 lakh on buying of equipment -- computers, biometric machines, tablets and others, he said.

While the talks with UIDAI are on, it has started discussions with state governments -- Haryana, Jharkhand, Bihar and Odisha -- to see how can the people from Aadhaar enrollment centres can be taken into their ecosystem.

He added that CSCs do not have any power to access the whole database and it is impossible to do any fraudulent activity from the CSC network. Whatever issues have been there, it is because of technologies related to it at the back-end and they (UIDAI) need to strengthen their technology to avoid such incidents, he said.

"Many of the issues relating to any fraudulent activity or otherwise done in Aadhaar relates to technological issue. It is not because of any CSC operator. UIDAI should take steps to close the gaps and strengthen supervisory roles. The advance search facility is only available with UIDAI and state government officials and not with any CSC or its franchisee partner", he said.

CSCs have helped the government in making Aadhaar cards of children by going to Aangandwadis, by organising fairs in various states and by visiting homes of ill patients, he said, adding it is unfair to close all these centres suddenly.

UIDAI now plans to make Aadhaar enrollment centres at banks and post offices, apart from government premises.

Of late, there have been reports of data leakage, which prompted UIDAI to take many steps to secure the data.

Both UIDAI and CSC e-Governance Services are part of the of IT and electronics ministry.

Tyagi said the government needs to either compensate these people who have made investment or help them with an alternative.

There are over 250,000 CSCs across the country, of which 150,000 are rural and the rest are in urban areas.

Apart from Aadhaar-related services, CSCs also enable people to access government services online such as train tickets, birth certificates, online submission of various forms and bills. These centres also train people in using digital services and also offer skill-related courses. It is a critical part of the government's Digital India programme.

CSCs were initially offering various government-related services acting as a single point for delivery but now has expanded its reach to various products from private players.

Out of 1.19 billion Aadhaar numbers generated by UIDAI, around 180 million had been generated by enrollment centres at CSCs and don't include the updation numbers.

Source: DNA Money