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, February 24, 2020

14402 - Aadhaar Daily Digest,


Aadhaar, Daily update ⋅ 23 February 2020

How to get 'free' e-PAN using Aadhaar
Economic Times
The government has launched a facility to provide instant Permanent Account Number (PAN) to an individual having Aadhaar number. This is a ...

Labour officials 'tweak' Aadhaar details to hush up Shagun scam
The Tribune
In an attempt to cover up the shagun scheme scam in the Labour Welfare Board, the Aadhaar card details of illegitimate beneficiaries have allegedly ...

Hyderabad man who got Aadhaar notice to prove citizenship was under probe for making fake ...
India Today
The man who triggered the row over Aadhaar notices to 127 people in Telangana has dubious past and was under probe for creating fake documents, ...

German journalist questions India's data privacy law: Aadhaar best invention since sliced bread?
National Herald
Most importantly, from 2009, he was in charge of the government's Aadhaar-project, a unique biometric identifier for all citizens and all purposes, into ...

New Study Backs Reports That Aadhaar-PDS Link in Jharkhand Led to Exclusions
The Wire
Requiring Aadhaar to obtain PDS benefits in Jharkhand led to considerable reduction in leakage, but also led to non-trivial increase in exclusion error ...

New study points out the shortcomings of the Aadhaar-linked PDS system
Financial Express
The government claims to have saved Rs 90,000 crore by way of eliminating subsidy/benefit leakages by using Aadhaar, as the resulting identification ...

BJP seeks Telangana CM K Chandrasekhar Rao's response on Aadhaar fraud issue
The New Indian Express
The citizen's identity cards, including PAN, Aadhaar and ration cards are 'up for sale' in the State, especially in the Old City area, which is under ...

Aadhaar cards row: UIDAI clarification on notices is inconsistent on citizenship
The New Indian Express
Meanwhile, an Aadhaar official said that these checks are routine and a part of the process to keep databases updated.

From the chief architect of Aadhaar to CTO of India's first non-banking platform, meet the Speakers ...
YourStory.com
For the last two years, YourStory has brought together design and product experts of the startup ecosystem under one umbrella through its initiative ...

First CSC Aadhaar Seva Kendra in the state to be operational from Feb 25
The New Indian Express
The first complete Aadhaar Seva Kendra (ASK) for Aadhaar enrolment and other services in the state will start functioning from Tuesday.

Is Aadhaar smoke screen for NRC in Telangana?
The Siasat Daily
“I was shocked after what happened in that Aadhaar case. I haven't been able to sleep because of it. Is the Telangana government in collusion with ...

Three-day Aadhaar enrolment drive in Guwahati from February 26
Northeast Now
An on-spot Aadhaar enrollment drive will be launched by the State Bank of India (SBI) during its three-day-long Financial Inclusion Outreach Initiative ...

Centre working on Bill to link Aadhaar with voter ID
OrissaPOST
New Delhi: The Centre is working on a Bill to amend the election law to mandatorily link Aadhaar with voter identity card. The objective is to clean up ...

Aadhaar use in PDS 'not a free lunch,' finds a study
The Indian Express
A new study on the use of Aadhaar in the functioning of the Public Distribution System (PDS) in Jharkhand has found that biometric authentication did ...

'Fake' Aadhaar row: Telangana police's cordon and search operation comes under scanner
The New Indian Express
The UIDAI stated that they were following up on reports made by the State police that around 127 people had allegedly obtained Aadhar based on

Employees' Provident Fund: Link your Aadhaar with UAN to get PF, pension payments on time
Financial Express
The contributions for EPF come from the mandatory deductions from the employees' monthly salary and the matching contributions by the employers.

India details plans for biometric authentication with different modalities for remote voters
Biometric Update
A Cabinet note has allegedly been in the works outlining legal changes so that the EC can connect voter ID to Aadhaar numbers to optimize the ...

Aadhaar cards obtained by colluding with MeeSeva staff
NYOOOZ
By Express News ServiceHYDERABAD: The UIDAI officials, who served notices to more than 127 persons for allegedly obtaining fake Aadhaar cards, ...

Six stocks that may gain as GST, IBC, Jan Dhan, Aadhaar help Modi formalise economy
Financial Express
With the formalisation of the economy helped by Government of India's linking of Jan Dhan Accounts with mobile numbers and Aadhaar cards to plug ...

AP govt takes down inter exam website that leaked students' Aadhaar data
The News Minute
The hall ticket numbers could be easily guessed and the poor cyber security of the website meant, it was easy to “brute force” and access data.

Biometric data poses grave risks to privacy
Mail and Guardian
The Aadhaar programme's primary goal was to manage government benefits and eliminate “ghost beneficiaries” of public subsidies. But it has now ...

PM's bid to clean up real estate sector hits the 'Babu Wall'
The Sunday Guardian
Lawyer and BJP leader, Ashwini Upadhyay, who has been pushing the government to link Aadhaar with immovable properties, was once again ...

Voter ID enough Proof of Citizenship: Court acquits couple
The Siasat Daily
The court said since the couple posses not only Aadhaar Card, PAN card and Ration Card, but also Voter ID which is alone sufficient proof of ...

New Income Tax regime, invalid PAN to simple GST return: 5 changes from April 1
Financial Express
Right from the end of linking PAN-Aadhaar deadline to the availability of new GST return system, there will be many tax and economic changes that ...

One in three payments for maternity benefit scheme credited to wrong account
The Hindu
One in three Aadhaar-based payments for the Centre's maternity benefit scheme, or Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY), was credited to ...

Know the process of making e-PAN Card
News Track English
In this, if you have an Aadhaar card, you can be provided an online pen card immediately without any delay. Also, no fee can be charged for this.

How to withdraw from Provident Fund account for home loan repayment
Financial Express
Please note that there are also two types of claim forms – with Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar. Those, who want to opt for online EPF withdrawal, need to ...

Provident fund pensioners can submit life certificate online anytime of the year
Livemint
NEW DELHI : Pensioners under the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) can now submit their life certificate online anytime during the ...

Lack of crores of banks on this approach by means of bank card, arrested from Greater Noida
Sahiwal Tv (blog)
These folks made bank cards by means of faux Aadhaar and PAN playing cards. With this bank card, each of them have looted crores of rupees to the ...

Saryu Roy washes hands of ration card deletion
Telegraph India
BJP leader-turned-Independent MLA from Jamshedpur East Saryu Roy iterated on Friday that the deletion of ration cards for Aadhaar non-linkage was ...

Mumbai court: Voter ID proves citizenship
The Tribune
They produced several documents as evidence, including Aadhaar card, PAN card, election card and passbook. The magistrate held that an election ...

AIADMK seeks to reach out to Muslims, says it will not allow
Outlook India
The K Palaniswami government has also written to the Centre that certain information and documents like Aadhaar should be avoided in the ...