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

Tuesday, March 13, 2018

12957 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 11th March 2018



Economic Times
The UIDAI has flagged low Aadhaar enrolment and updating at nearly 2,500 out of over 7,000 bank branches that have started the facility, and ... The Aadhaar-issuing body is of the view that the enrolment or updating activity carried out in each of these laggard branches must be at least 16 per day.




Times of India
"I was asked for my Aadhaar when I went for a test to a private hospital. When I refused to give it, the person asked for my husband's Aadhaar. It was just absurd. But they backed off when I refused to give it," she says adding that it is not so much the project but its implementation that is being used as a ...






Times of India
To curb age fraud in various national and state-level wrestling competitions, the Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) has made the Aadhaar card mandatory for ... “Aadhaar has been made compulsory for all senior, junior and cadet categories in national and state-level wrestling championships to prevent ...




Times of India
"So far, as many as 32 crore Aadhaar numbers have been linked to voters' ID cards. Another 54.5 crore will be done as soon as we get a nod from the Supreme Court," he told reporters on the sidelines of the 14th National Conference of the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO, here.





The Hindu
Despite recent reiteration by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that no essential services or benefits would be denied to genuine beneficiaries for want of Aadhaar, there have been several such cases across the State. While a major chunk of these denials have been in the Public ...






Daily News & Analysis
While Indian citizens have been arguing and debating for several months over their Right to Privacy when it comes to applying for an Aadhaar card, a number of immigrants who have lived here for several years have applied and possess a unique identity (UID), the Times of India reported. According to ...






Times of India
BENGALURU: Procuring an Aadhaar card as proof of identity (PoI) to secure access to bank accounts and statefunded benefits is not difficult, considering that Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) allows citizens to pick from a list of 35 documents which can be submitted as proof of address ...






Times of India
Replying to a question on anomalies in voters list, Yogi said, “The state government will send a proposal to Centre for having a single voters' list for civic, assembly and general elections in UP. This list should be linked with Aadhaar to weed out all anomalies. An 11-member committee headed by health ...






The Tribune
Meanwhile, Professor Chavan said: “There is no policy as such for making Aadhaar card mandatory for patients. On the hindsight, we are working in the direction of making full use of Aadhaar. All this is being done to lessen long queues at our registration counters. For example, a lot of time is consumed ...






Eastern Mirror
Bengaluru, March 10 (PTI): As many as 32 crore Aadhaar numbers have been linked to voter ID cards, Chief Election Commissioner O P Rawat said ... Karnataka-based Mathew Thomas had moved the apex court in November challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act claiming that it ...






The Telegraph
Everyone and his brother wants to hook up with your Aadhaar biometric identity number today. Or maybe you missed the deadline last Thursday, and have realised it when you tried to send your son pocket money via PayTM. “REQUEST FAILED: Money cannot be transferred,” PayTM tells you. Aadhaar ...






The Telegraph
Guwahati: Officials engaged as supervisors for Aadhaar enrolment in Guwahati said the exercise could take time as the government was yet to decide whether the verification process would be carried out manually or digitally. The Assam government has already moved the Supreme Court for extension ...






United News of India
Gorakhpur, Mar 11(UNI) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, mooting the idea for unified electoral rolls for the Assembly/Lok Sabha and the local bodies -- has said that the voters list should be linked with Aadhaar. The announcement was made by CM here at the Gorakhsnath temple on ...






SportsCafe
Aadhaar has been made compulsory for all senior, junior and cadet categories in national and state-level wrestling championships to prevent fraudulent activities in the sport,” WFI secretary Vinod Tomar told TOI. “This (move) will weed out dishonest wrestlers who forge documents and commit age fraud ...






Times Now
While many think that Aadhar linking with Paytm is a tiresome and complicated process, it is rather easy to link your Aadhaar details with e-wallets. While it is an important part of the 'Know Your Customer' (KYC) policy, e-wallets like Paytm are constantly reminding its users about the importance of ...






News World India
The Election Commission (EC) has changed its stance on linking Aadhaar ID with voter cards, as it filed a revised application with the Supreme Court seeking mandatory linkage of the Aadhaar card with voter id cards. Although the EC did encourage the linking of Aadhaar with voter ID cards, its position ...






The Hindu
The administration has deployed mobile Aadhaar enrolment units to reach out to them, and so far has enrolled 11,261 bedridden persons, including the elderly, and 3,162 homeless children staying in various organisations. It has also conducted a special drive for transgenders, registering 45 of them.






The New Indian Express
However, Aadhaar number of students is necessary to the upload marks cards. But the High Court said the department cannot access students' Aadhaar details. Now, department officials are discussing with NIC about ways to upload marks cards and other documents without the Aadhaar number.






Times of India
However, these constant questions affect the sanctity of the institution. These questions, be it the matters of Judge Loya, Aadhaar, Hadiya, at some point, we need to call it a day," Anand said, referring to the death of the judge, who was presiding over the trial of the Sohrabuddin Shaikh encounter case, ...