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

Friday, February 9, 2018

12906 - DEAD MAN’S AADHAR CARD FORGED TO CON FIRM OF RS 1.53 LAKH



Ahmedabad Mirror | Updated: Feb 8, 2018, 02.00 AM IST

A Gota resident allegedly forged an Aadhaar card belonging to a dead man to con a finance company of Rs 1.53 lakh. Police have arrested accused Tarun Sureja, a 32-year-old resident of Silver Gardenia in Bopal. They were acting on a complaint filed by Abhijeet Dave, 27, assistant manager of the fraud control unit of the finance company. According to Navrangpura police, the incident came to light when Sanket Sharma, collection manager at Bajaj Finserv, informed Dave that the credit card instalment of customer Ajay Rathod, residing at Silver Gardenia, was overdue. When Dave visited the Gota house, a woman told him that no one named Rathod lived there.

The assistant manager dug into the records and realised that five loans had been issued to people living at the same address between February 2015 and November 2017. While four loans had been issued to Rathod, one had been given to Tarun Sureja.

Discrepancies found 

He checked the records and found that Aadhaar card copies submitted by Rathod and Sureja were the same, except for the difference in names and birth dates. While two of the loans (one issued to Sureja and the other to Rathod) had been paid off, three loans totalling Rs 1.53 lakh were still pending. The assistant manager realised that the first loan in Rathod’s name, which had been paid off, mentioned an address in Ankodia village in Vadodara district. “He visited the address and found Rathod’s brother Vijay who told them that Rathod had died on May 29, 2016. He also showed him the death certificate,” said police. Realising that Sureja had somehow committed the fraud, he filed a police complaint against Sureja on Tuesday.

Modus operandi 
Investigation revealed that after Rathod died, his mobile number was reissued to Sureja. When Sureja, who had already taken and repaid a loan from the company, registered for another loan from the new mobile number, he received a message that the number was already registered. “He received an OTP which gave him access to Rathod’s loan with the finance company,” said police. The company issues an EMI card with a pre-approved loan amount to its customers.


While the firm carries out a thorough check the first time the card is issued, if the customer wants to apply for a second loan, all s/ he needs to do is submit an id proof. “Realising this, Sureja first got the address on the EMI card changed to his. Then, he modified the PDF of his Aadhar card to change the name from Sureja to Rathod. He submitted this as id proof for the loans he took on December 2, 5 and 6 under Rathod’s name. The card’s limit was Rs 1.58 lakh, and he took a loan of upto Rs 1.53 lakh,” said police. Sureja, who studied till MPhil, is a graphic designer and creates websites for a living. “He bought LED TV and mobile phones on credit then sold it off to get hold of cash. We are looking into all his purchases,” said police.