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 20, 2018

13547 - Government in damage control after Prakash Javadekar says 80,000 fake teachers detected via Aadhaar - India Today

Government in damage control after Prakash Javadekar says 80,000 fake teachers detected via Aadhaar
  • Meetu Jain
  • New Delhi
  • May 14, 2018

HIGHLIGHTS
  • RTI was filed by activist Anjali Bhardwaj
  • Government issued a clarification over Javadekar's statement
  • Government has been lauding the merits of Aadhaar

                                 Prakash Javadekar.

Are there ghost teachers in institutes of higher education or not? While Human Resources Development Minister Prakash Javadekar had in January said that over 80,000 ghost teachers had been weeded out, an RTI response drew a blank.
The ministry's response to a query by activist Anjali Bhardwaj said there is no such information with the ministry.

Now the HRD ministry - in an attempt at damage control - has issued a clarification, "All the 80,000 names have been shared with both the AICTE and the UGC- the regulators, for taking up with the respective institutions and verify the reasons for incorrect entries. Both the regulators are still on the job since the number of cases is very high. It is also clarified that in this case, an opportunity is given to the institutions to rectify mistakes."

The ministry did not specify when this operation to clean up the system was initiated.

"From ghost teachers we have come down to incorrect entries. Can incorrect entries be viewed as fraud. On what basis have incorrect entries been dubbed ghost teachers," Bhardwaj told India Today.

She said that even after the RTI response, her team scoured the HRD portal and repeatedly spoke to the PIO for information before going public.

In January this year, HRD minister Prakash Javadekar said his ministry had found 80,000 ghost lecturers employed in higher education institutes.

He said this while unveiling the results of a survey on higher education and launching a national teacher's portal, Gurujan. Javadekar was bolstering the government's case on the importance of the Aadhaar number and its usage.

"So far only 85 per cent of teachers have given their Aadhaar number and we found 80,000 cases in which lecturers were listed as employed with more than one institute," he had said then.
In fact, Javadekar had said that some of these teachers were employed in as many as four institutes.
Anjali Bhardwaj tweeted Friday, "Yet another false claim of savings due to Aadhaar? @PrakashJavdekar said 80,000 bogus teachers detected through aadhaar. Reply to RTI shows MHRD unable to furnish any evidence to back the claim. Unable to provide names of bogus teachers and institutions where they were employed. @HRDMinistry says it has no information on inquiry set up and action taken against those responsible for the fraud. Who was paying salaries to 80,000 bogus teachers? Why is ministry not punishing anyone for misappropriating public funds. Claims of savings only for #Aadhaar propaganda?"
The RTI response of the HRD minister on February 12 said, "This division has no information to furnish in this regard".
The government has been lauding the merits of Aadhaar which it says is required for targeted subsidies such as LPG or welfare schemes and scholarships.

Also read: Modi government spends over Rs 4,300 crore in publicity: RTI
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