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, April 13, 2018

13271 - How would Aadhaar curb hawala transactions and money laundering: SC - Businress Standard

How would Aadhaar curb hawala transactions and money laundering: SC

The advancing of arguments on behalf of UIDAI remained inconclusive and would resume on Thursday

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi 
Last Updated at April 11, 2018 21:58 IS


How can Aadhaar curb the menace of money laundering which poses a threat to the economy, the Supreme Court asked the Centre on Wednesday.

A five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law for the 27th day, posed the question after it was told by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) that the menace of hawala transactions and money laundering were a global concern and the 12-digit unique identifier would help in curbing them.
The government also claimed that the authorities have been able to unearth Rs 330 billion, which was earlier not taxed, through the "voluntary seeding" of Aadhaar with PAN cards and the amount may rise "exponentially" if this linking is made mandatory.
It also submitted that linking Aadhaar number with PAN would prevent income tax evasion, circulation and use of black money, besides the practice will also eliminate duplication of PAN numbers, which are used for the purpose of tax evasion.
In response, the bench, which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said "there is no doubt that money laundering is a problem. The only question that needs to be answered is how will Aadhaar prevent money laundering."

Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for UIDAI, said that seeding of Aadhaar with PAN card and bank accounts and other facilities would help authorities in effectively dealing with the global threat of money laundering.
He said now the banks are mandated to verify the identity of their customers and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) is no more a "toothless law" after it has been strengthened.
The PMLA has become stringent since 2013 and the amended rules under PMLA mandates provision of Aadhaar number to open a bank account, he said.
"If there is an overwhelming public interest, then there is no need to apply the 'least intrusive' test to test the validity of the (Aadhaar) law. (In that case) legitimate state interest is enough and there was no need to prove compelling state interest," he said.
At the outset, the law officer referred to the apex court judgement in the Binoy Viswam case which had allowed the Centre to link Aadhaar with PAN cards.
"The challenge to section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act was examined by this court. Apart from right to privacy, all other aspects were considered," he said, adding that the privacy judgement had also affirmed that the right to privacy was not absolute. Restrictions could be imposed as was done in the case of fundamental right to life under Article 21.
It has already been proved that Aadhaar linking with PAN will help curb money laundering and black money and prevent tax evasion, he said, adding that this question was not open to challenge any more as it has already been decided in the Binoy Viswam case.
"Only the challenge to Article 21 is open with respect to Aadhaar. All the other aspects have already been dealt with in the Binoy Viswam case," he said.
Referring to the judgement, the law officer said it has been held that Parliament has the power to make law on linking of Aadhaar with PAN cards.
He also referred to various foreign judgements and gave an illustration of frisking of all passengers at airports and said it does not mean that security agencies suspect everyone.
To this, the bench said the issue of security was a genuine concern, but the point is only those persons are frisked who go to the airports.
Dealing with doctrine of proportionality, the bench said the nature of a crime determines the level of proportionality and said that in case of drug lords, the level of scrutiny would be stringent and it cannot be same in case of common citizens.
He also said that the right to privacy in the European convention of human rights was not absolute and could be curtailed for the purpose of national security.
Dwelling on Aadhaar-PAN linking, Mehta said the "problem of multiple PAN cards to the same individual and PAN cards in the name of fictitious individuals are common medium of money laundering, tax-evasion, creation and channeling of black money.
"PAN numbers in name of front or fictitious persons as directors or shareholders are used to create layers of shell companies through which money laundering, tax-evasions, creation and channeling of black money is done."


The advancing of arguments on behalf of UIDAI remained inconclusive and would resume on Thursday.

Earlier, the apex court had rebutted the Centre's defence that collection of biometric details has not infringed the right to privacy of the citizens even if these were collected before the enactment of a law on Aadhaar in 2016.



First Published: Wed, April 11 2018. 21:57 IST
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