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

Sunday, May 6, 2018

13462 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 5th May 2018



Live Law
On Day 36 of the Aadhaar hearing i.e., Thursday, Attorney General KK Venugopal advanced submissions on the mandate of Aadhaar-SIM card linkage in the light of the February 6, 2017 order of the Supreme Court in Lokniti Foundation v. UOI. “How is the linking relatable to Section 7 (of the Aadhaar ...






The Hindu
“Mera Events wants Aadhaar card number to book IPL tickets. Why? There is no other choice of IDs that it is willing to take. Aadhaar card for government schemes can be understood. Aadhaar as unique ID to link all the tax, income and related transactions makes sense... but cricket tickets? Is there any ...








NewsClick
A few days back, Asia Times and Medium, a popular website reported on security holes in the Aadhaar system. Saikat Datta wrote that a number of people have warned the UID Authority of this hole, without getting any response. Today, the French security expert, who goes by the twitter handle Elliot ...







Firstpost
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), on Thursday, said it follows a "stringent enrolment and updation process" for issuance of Aadhaar cards, and that it has blacklisted over 50,000 operators for various violations, amid reports of a breach in its enrolment software. The UIDAI said its ...



Scroll.in
Aadhaar, India's 12-digit biometric identification number scheme, has been dogged by controversy ever since the government set up the Unique Identification Authority of India to oversee its rollout and implementation in 2009. Activists and politicians have raised concerns about the security and privacy ...






The Quint
Thankfully, the process, part of an initiative called the National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP), was suspended because of the Supreme Court's interim orders on Aadhaar in August 2015. However, from the CEC's statement about 54.5 crore further linkings, it is clear ...








Firstpost
Aadhaar gets a brand ambassador - #DailyDope. Aadhaar has found what could be, its biggest ambassador, Microsoft founder Bill Gates. So impressed is Gates with Aadhaar that he is willing to finance the .






Headlines of Today
Aadhar card is a fundamental identity card to benefit various government plans and monetary administrations. Everybody can enlist for Aadhaar – even a newborn child as indicated by UIDAI. UIDAI likewise as of late presented a blue colored Baal Aadhaar card for kids beneath the age of 5 years.




Clipper28 (satire) (press release) (blog)
The Indian Premiere League matches may have been an opportunity to let go and enjoy the cricket but the IPL ticket vendor has made Aadhaar mandatory for tickets. This comes at a time when the Supreme Court is already hearing a batch of petitions about Aadhaar and its continuation and ...






Times of India
Besides, if the ration card is not Aadhaar seeded, the individual could obtain ration through a onetime password (OTP) on his mobile number registered with Bhamashah card or through a bypass ... In case of no Aadhaar card, even then the beneficiary could enjoy the facility of ration card portability.






Civicist
Bill Gates is apparently giving money to the World Bank to help take India's (problematic and scandal-plagued) biometric identification system, Aadhaar, to other countries. In a tweet by the Aadhaar office, he is quoted as saying “Aadhaar in itself doesn't pose any privacy issue because it is just a bio ID ...






Business Line
Under the new rules, in the case of inward remittances, the agency can seek information relating to a remittee's name, address, permanent account number (PAN), Goods and Service Tax Identification Number (GSTIN), Aadhaar number, bank account number and Indian Financial System Code (IFSC) ...






Times of India
Police found Ghani had fled to Uppinangadi in Dakshina Kannada and had changed his name and profession. “He became Shakir Ahmed, a truck driver by profession,” Annamalai said. “He even got an Aadhaar card in the name of Shakir, married a local woman and became father of three kids.”.






Times of India
However, many institutes played a “large scale fraud...showing bogus students” thus causing loss to the state exchequer and the hence, last April the state decided to send the amounts directly to students' Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, instead of paying the institutions directly. The students then are ...






Times of India
Taking note of the reported fraud, the chancellor's secretariat has already directed the universities to link the salary accounts of teachers of training colleges with their Aadhaar numbers in order to check impersonations. According to Raj Bhawan sources, several training colleges have furnished fake ...






NYOOOZ
The circular directed officials to give wide publicity to the people during the 'Nayay Apke Dwar' campaign kicked off from May 1 to June 30. In case of no Aadhaar card, even then the beneficiary could enjoy the facility of ration card portability.“In case of no Aadhaar card and the POS (point of sale) ...






The Hans India
The EO said the SSD tokens would be issued free of cost and the pilgrim must bring Aadhaar card to get the tokens. In case, if the persons do not have Aadhaar card, the TTD would issue token in the time slot of their choice with voter card. Singhal said TTD has set up 57 counters in Tirupati, 33 counters ...






Zee News
After you have successfully created your DigiLocker account, you can provide your Aadhaar number (issued by UIDAI) to avail additional services. Providing the Aadhaar number is voluntarily and not compulsory. The Council For The Indian School Certificate Examinations was so constituted to secure ...






The Wire
Mukesh Jain draws The Wire's attention to an Aadhaar security breach in Haryana caused by the Haryana government itself. It seems that since the state government is aware that it cannot force people to link their Aadhaar card with their electricity connections, it has ordered that Aadhaar data of all of its ...






Inc42 Media
The EPFO data breach came to light through a letter circulated on Twitter which was titled 'Secret' dated March 23 and was addressed to the CEO of Common Service Centre which claimed that hackers exploited vulnerabilities through aadhaar.epfoservices.com to steal data.As news buzzed across ...






NDTV
5,000 got engulfed in the fire and so did my Aadhaar card and insurance papers. The administration has not given any relief material. We never got any prior warning," said Laado. Ramesh Singh who is now lying in the Bharatpur government district hospital with a fractured arm and leg recalls the ...








Firstpost
Jaising has said that with the top court hearing Aadhaar and other matters of great significance to the people, the proceedings can be live-streamed. She said live streaming of Supreme Court cases of constitutional and national importance having an impact on the public at large, will empower and ...