AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 13584 - ‘Cash is not going to go away; its use has risen post demonetisation’

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, May 25, 2018

13584 - ‘Cash is not going to go away; its use has risen post demonetisation’ - Hindu Businessline

‘Cash is not going to go away; its use has risen post demonetisation’

K RAM KUMAR

MUMBAI, MAY 21

Payment solutions provider AGS Transact Technologies plans to deploy one lakh point-of-sale (POS) terminals in FY19 even as it wants the interchange fee issue resolved before it restarts ATM deployments. The company’s CMD Ravi B Goyal, a hardware engineer-turned-entrepreneur, began with marketing computer-aided textile designing software and diversified into dispensing systems for paints, inks, and pigments, among others, in the mid-1990s. He subsequently launched AGS in 2002.

In an interview with BusinessLine, Goyal said that with the digital banking landscape expanding fast, his company is constantly upgrading its infrastructure to facilitate digital payments. Excerpts:

How has the digital banking landscape evolved post demonetisation?

Cash in circulation now is more than the pre-demonetisation level. The number of transactions, the volume getting dispensed through ATMs is much more than the pre-demonetisation level. Cash is not something which is going to go away. However, the whole payment landscape is also expanding. And in that there is going to be cash, card, wallet, unified payments interface (UPI), immediate payment service (IMPS), internet and mobile banking. All these will co-exist. As a technology provider, we want to basically make it convenient for the consumer as well as the merchant and give them the freedom to choose how they want to transact.

Why have ATM deployments slowed down?

There are two kinds of ATMs — onsite and offsite. The success of an offsite ATM completely depends on its location. We have seen in the past seven-eight years that some of them don’t give you transactions (volumes). And, if an ATM is not giving the required number of transactions in four-six months, you have to relocate it.

The number of transactions — and the volume of cash dispensed — is far more than during pre-demonetisation. So, there is nothing wrong in the ATM channel. We manage about 40,000 ATMs and we have been doing 5-10 per cent relocation every year, all the time.

After demonetisation, the cash started coming in only in June-July 2017. So, the banks did not really budget any ATM deployments. But this year, ATM deployments will pick up. Those receiving direct benefit transfer in their accounts will need access to ATMs to withdraw cash. A cash withdrawal by a customer at the branch costs a bank ₹60. At an ATM, it will cost the bank ₹15 (interchange fee) at most. So, for any bank, ATM is the cheapest mode of cash dispensation.

Why have white label ATM (WLA) operators frozen ATM deployments?

Honestly, we still believe that WLAs have a great future. Globally, banks deploy ATMs onsite. All offsite are deployed by a third-party called independent service organisation (ISO).

The business model overseas is that customers are charged a convenience fee by ISOs. In India, the regulator says that you (WLA operator) cannot charge a convenience fee but you will get an interchange fee.

For banks, when it comes to (allocating) cash, the first priority is their branches, followed by their own ATMs and WLAs. WLAOs pick up whatever cash is left. The interchange fee and erratic supply of cash cause a problem. Otherwise, this model is going to be ‘the model’. Right now, it is not viable for us. But we are working very closely with the National Payments Corporation of India and the Confederation of ATM Industry and also meeting with the regulator. I am sure we will find some solution. Our request has been to restore the interchange fee to ₹18 against the current ₹15.

What are your investment plans?

Investments are on going in the cash-in-transit business, ATMs, recyclers, field-level maintenance and monitoring activity. We have built the right infrastructure to cater to banks. We have made ₹1,000 crore-plus investment so far…we have plans to tap the capital market (through an)... IPO.

Two private equity players, TPG (invested in AGS in 2011) and Actis (2012), together hold a 42 per cent stake in our company. They have invested around ₹400 crore. The process of buying them out is almost at the closing stage. Once the process is complete, I will be owning about 96-97 per cent.

What innovations are you working on?

We are enabling merchants to accept all kinds of digital payments in POS machines — by card, wallet, UPI, QR (quick response) code, Aadhaar Pay. We have 60,000 POS terminals. We will deploy a lakh more this year as we are making inroads into tier-II and tier-III cities.

Published on May 21, 2018