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

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

13616 - Home BusinessBusiness Others Ravi Shankar Prasad: ‘Digital India has become a mass movement in 4 years’ - Indian Express

Ravi Shankar Prasad: ‘Digital India has become a mass movement in 4 years’
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated.

Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad(Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)

Written by Pranav Mukul | New Delhi | Updated: May 28, 2018 12:56:41 pm

Having completed four years in power, digital delivery of services and employment generation through the common service centre scheme are the biggest achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad told Indian EXpress in an interview. Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated. Edited excerpts:

What have been the biggest achievements of this government in the digital technology sector over the last four years?
Digital India has become a mass movement touching the life of common and poor people. Four years down the line, common service centre movement has become big. From 23,000 common service centres in 2014, there are 2.91 lakh now. Apart from providing digital delivery of services, they have also created employment for 10 lakh people and have created entrepreneurship.

Bringing technology to rural areas of the country was one of the promises of this government. Apart from common service centres, where else have efforts been made?
Eighty-nine business processing and outsourcing units (BPOs) in 27 states of India in far-flung areas like Imphal, Kohima, Guwahati, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bareily, Kanpur, Bhiwandi have been set up in the first phase of the rural BPO scheme. In the next lot, places like Ghazipur, Dewaria, Jahanabad and Gaya are going to be covered.


“The government’s role in generating employment has been promotion of the common service centre scheme that has added 10 lakh jobs, claimed Electronics and Information Technology Minister. 

While the government boasts about the success of electronic manufacturing, there has been criticism that only assembly is done in India…
Electronic manufacturing is also a great success story. From two mobile units in 2014, there are 120 now. Those who criticise setting up of assembly units first must know it’s a norm worldwide. Now, even the other ecosystem, which includes components, sub-assemblies, is coming about apart from manufacturing of consumer electronics, automobiles, LED lights, solar panels, etc. India is emerging as a big country in electronic manufacturing.

Are there any areas where more could have been done in the last four years?
In four years, the progress is remarkable. I have to accelerate its speed more in the areas like digital health, digital literacy and delivery of digital services. We have also seen enormous success of Aadhaar as part of the JAM (Jan Dhan-Mobile-Aadhaar) trinity. As of date, there are 30 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 120 crore Aadhaar and 121 crore mobile phones in the country. We have saved over Rs 90,000 crore through direct benefit transfer. Fictitious claimants and middle-men are now out. Four years have shown poor people getting empowered through technological developments such as e-hospital, soil health cards, e-scholarships, Jeevan Praman Scheme, e-NAM. All of this technology is homegrown.


 “Digital India is transformative in empowering ordinary Indians ably assisted by other programmes like Startup India, Standup India, Skill India and newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, etc. Most important thing is that it is also empowering all genders. One-third of employees in the IT sector are women,” said Prasad.  (Express Photo: Anil Sharma)

Employment in the information technology (IT) sector has been a cause for concern. There were reports last year about mass lay-offs in the sector. What has the government done to address that?
In the IT sector, 39.97 lakh people work directly, according to the Nasscom estimate. Nearly, 3.5 times or over 1.30 crore work indirectly. In the last four years, 6 lakh jobs have been added by various IT companies including more than 1 lakh in 2017-18. We are promoting digital economy for it to reach $1 trillion size in the next five to seven years to address the rising demand in India that will add 50-75 lakh more jobs.
The government’s role in generating employment has been promotion of the common service centre scheme that has added 10 lakh jobs. Each village level entrepreneur is employing five to seven people on an average. Five lakh jobs have been added in mobile and electronic manufacturing, which the Centre has promoted. Further, 12,500 jobs have been created in the BPO sector through the rural BPO scheme, and this number is still rising. Therefore, employment potential is robust and I’m not even talking about jobs in other sectors created as a result of growing digital technologies. I am only talking about what is directly dealt with by my department.


 Ravi Shankar Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated.

Has the government been able to address the problem of skilling, which is said to be one of the key causes for concern in job creation in India?
Digital India is transformative in empowering ordinary Indians ably assisted by other programmes like Startup India, Standup India, Skill India and newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, etc. Most important thing is that it is also empowering all genders. One-third of employees in the IT sector are women.


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