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

Thursday, March 8, 2018

12952 - Linking Aadhaar with digital wallets: It's not all black and white! - The Hindu

Linking Aadhaar with digital wallets: It's not all black and white!

Srivathsan Nadadhur
MARCH 06, 2018 16:44 IST

Implementation of the Aadhaar-link up across various digital wallets has got users in a fix, but there’s some sunshine too
Digital sustenance was familiarised or rather enforced upon the common man, which is still one of the foremost advantages to emerge out of demonetisation and ATMs perennially running out of cash (which still continues in major parts of Hyderabad). The dependence on digital wallets henceforth has been immense. 

PayTM’s first-mover advantage in this arena was of great benefit to the firm but the list of its counterparts are impressively long too-Freecharge, Airtel Money, Idea Money, Amazon Pay, Ola Money, Lazy Pay and the latest entrant Tez by another major Google has brought a lot of renewed excitement into this space. However, nearly all of them have put up a united front in pushing their alert button hard to customers on linking wallets with Aadhaar, even when the March deadline seemed a fair distance away. And now, users aren’t even given the benefit of choice if they’re to add cash into their wallets — the KYC enforcement has put many users in a spot of bother.

Some haziness
Even as the haziness surrounding the security norms of the Aadhaar-link up prevails, most of the wallets have brought in a series of tough-to-resist cashbacks and offers to lure the user into parting with his/her KYC number. PayTM now provides a voucher facility for those who wouldn’t want to force the link-up, however the simplicity surrounding money transfers cease to exist anymore. PayTM users have an advantage of adding money through their Uber accounts — which still is oblivious to the Aadhaar-drama. Amazon Pay has time and again induced users with gift vouchers for every minimum sum they add on to the wallet, the most recent one being the ₹100 flat cashback to an addition of ₹300. Ola Money and Airtel Money have been on the forefront to provide temporary monetary advantages to those who adhere to the KYC with similar offers too.


To fall for the trap or not is something the user has to decide. Another way to look at it is the inevitability of the link-up — just that it has come earlier than needed. Most of these majors play up with the fact that there’s little else choice.
Majors insisting Aadhaar tie-up/ authorised ID proofs
  • Ola Money, PayTM, Amazon Pay, Airtel Money
  • Others who do without it
  • Lazy Pay, Tez
  • Wallets that a give an option to avail/not avail
  • Freecharge
  • Other wallets which have shut shop
  • PayUMoney, Bookmyshow wallet
Although the Aadhaar tie-up here is to ensure accountability to all the purchases, why is anonymity a tough bargain? ‘Why would a regular citizen who may use the wallets merely for mobile recharges’ even bother about accountability? It’s something they come prepared with when they enter the online space. With/without the link-up too, a transaction is recorded on the digital wallet for future reference. Another option that majors can consider is to involve the link-up is with purchases of higher order, where the danger surrounding authenticity/accountability can sometimes be high.

The other side

An advantage that these moves have brought in-is the trust of Unified Payments Interface (UPI)-oriented purchases, which involves a unique number authorised by a bank account holder. Though the KYC connection still exists with the bank, Tez, the Google-based payment app has made impressive use of the facility. That a major like Google is taking this forward has ensured a trust factor unlike the other apps. The user-friendly interface coupled with its right timing into the market will very likely give a tough competition to PayTM in the coming months.
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