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

Monday, August 13, 2018

13846 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 11th August 2018



Washington Post
Reetika Khera is a development economist. AHMEDABAD, India — Until recently, India's national identification system, Aadhaar, was heralded both ...






News18
New Delhi: As the Supreme Court is yet to deliver its constitutional bench verdict on Aadhaar, American business magnet and principal founder of ...





Firstpost
Sharma was in the news recently for his Aadhaar dare, where he shared his Aadhaar number on Twitter and challenged anyone to cause him harm.





Free Press Journal
When I went to have the child's Aadhaar card made, I was asked to select a gender. But I didn't know what to write because I suspected the child may ...






Deccan Chronicle
Mumbai: Axis Bank has become the first bank in the country to introduce Iris Scan Authentication feature for Aadhaar-based transactions through its ...






Outlook India
(EDS: With changes in para 7). New Delhi, Aug 9 Amid the controversy over TRAI chairman Ram Sewak Sharma making public his Aadhaar number ...






Goodreturns
Earlier, assesses were mandatorily required to quote their aadhaar while filing of Income tax return. But as per the report, one of the petitioners in the ...






Greater Kashmir
“10211893 Aadhaar enrolments have been generated in J&K so far registering an overall progress of 82%,” Secretary, Information Technology, ...





The Tribune
Justice Amol Rattan Singh added that the order would be treated as overruled if mandatory linkage or usage of Aadhaar cards was not approved by ...








CNBCTV18
The Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) has allowed online filing of income tax return without quoting Aadhaar number, reported Scroll.in .






Kashmir Reader
GANDERBAL: A training camp on Format IV of Aadhaar Enabled Biometric Attendance System (AEBAS) was organised by district administration on ...






The Kashmir Images Newspaper (satire)
The court has already made it clear that procurement of Aadhaar card cannot be made mandatory until Supreme Court of the country decides the ...






NDTV
Government has asked states to accept digital version of Driving Licence (DL), vehicle registration certificate and other documents presented via ...






The Telegraph India
Sir - Jean Drèze is entitled to his views ("Done by Aadhaar", Aug 3). But we take strong exception to some of Drèze's comments ("The Airtel scam is ...






Business Standard
De-duplication, which will be a technology-driven exercise, will gather pace after the Supreme Court verdict on whether Aadhaar should be linked to ...






The Quint
The Aadhaar Question: “The (governmentt) bill doesn't apply to Aadhaar, mine does. Mine says that Aadhaar has to be fully compliant with data ...






Hindustan Times
Gehlawat said the suspect has an Aadhaar card in the name of Mohammad Sharukh with an address of Kishanganj. “We have sent the details to the ...






BloombergQuint
To counter that, Modi has pushed ahead with the Aadhaar biometric ID-based direct benefit transfers—rolled out towards the end of his predecessor ...






The Hindu BusinessLine
Furthermore, the book's focus on India at a time of Aadhaar keeps it fresh, contemporary and relevant. It's a microcosmic study of an intersection ...






Inc42 Media
... Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) either, for the millions of data leaks that have been reported at various nodes of the Aadhaar system.






Catch News
Swedish home furnishings giant IKEA witnessed the huge response from customers as 40,000 people visited IKEA's first store in India in Hyderabad ...