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

Saturday, March 7, 2020

14411 - 7th March 2020 - Aadhaar Daily Digest,


Aadhaar,
Daily update ⋅ 7 March 2020

Aadhaar's architect discusses what went into world's biggest biometric repository
Biometric Update
Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric identity program, or about ten times more massive than the largest digital identity system there is – depending ...

With Aadhaar-enabled system, now avail banking services at your doorstep
The Hindu
The Aadhaar-enabled Payment System (AePS) will come in handy for such residents in rural areas, especially for those in the hilly terrains. To ...
Parliamentary panel backs EC's Aadhaar, poll roll linkage pitch
The Hindu BusinessLine
A parliamentary committee on Friday supported the Election Commission proposal to link voters' Aadhaar numbers with the electoral roll to clean up ...

Election Commission proposal to link electoral roll with Aadhaar under examination: Law Ministry
The New Indian Express
The poll panel was then collecting Aadhaar numbers as part of its National Electoral Roll Purification and Authentication Programme (NERPAP).

Aadhaar card with jail address lands murderer of truck driver back in jail
Hindustan Times
His Aadhaar which mentioned the 'Lucknow Jail' as his residential address has landed Sunny Chauhan back in jail for the murder of a mini-truck ...

DL invalid for Aadhaar updation
Star of Mysore
I had been to HDFC Bank, Saraswathipuram Branch to get my Aadhaar card updated. As I needed to update the address, I had taken my original ...

You also can do that together with your Aadhaar Card
Sahiwal Tv (blog)
For salaried workers, the Universal Account Number (UAN) is a crucial doc that helps them observe numerous Employees Provident Fund (EPF) ...

Coronavirus Scare in India: Aadhaar-Based Biometric Attendance Suspended For Govt Employees ...
LatestLY
The government announced that all Ministries/Departments are requested to exempt their employees to mark biometric attendance in Aadhaar-based ...

New Finance Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey is a multi-tasker — Indian economy will test him
ThePrint
The Aadhaar tenure. Those who have worked with him say Pandey is no novice in dealing with challenges. Before joining the finance ministry as

PAN Card Holders May Be Fined Rs 10000 For Not Linking It To Aadhaar By March 31
The Logical Indian
Individuals who fail to link their PAN cards with Aadhaar by the end of March 31, 2020, will face a fine up to Rs 10,000. In a double whammy, their PAN ...

Gujarat Assembly: State govt plans to link water connection with Aadhaar, and more
The Indian Express
THE Gujarat government plans to link water connections – both existing as well as new – with Aadhaar numbers. Also, the existing 55 litre per capita ...

Nation to honour Kerala's oldest students
Times of India
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned her achievement in his monthly Mann Ki Baat. Following this, bank officials and Aadhaar ...

Parents' place of birth query in NPR aimed at completing data for households: MHA
The Hindu
Aadhaar database contains only bare minimum demographic parameters while NPR is a comprehensive identity database which can be further ...

IMA case: HC deplores State's attitude of not giving office space, powers to officer
The Hindu
Meanwhile, the Bench directed the Union government to ensure grant of permission for Aadhaar validation as it was pointed out in the affidavit that the ...

No NRC exercise taken up in Mizoram, says official
Outlook India
... identity cards, Aadhaar cards, and educational certificates. "Mizoram''s NRC form has six more questions which were not included in Assam''s NRC," ...

6 Bangladeshi immigrants held for cheating, forgery
The Hindu
“They revealed that they had entered India via illegal means, yet they all possessed documents such as Aadhaar cards, PAN cards and voter IDs.

HC raps govt over hurdles to CA's work in IMA case
The New Indian Express
Aadhaar-based authentication. The CA stated in the status report that the online claim application features real-time validation of Aadhaar number, ...
Tripura identifies 18 sites to settle Brus
Telegraph India
“Our government will also provide them with Permanent Resident of Tripura Certificate (PRTC), Aadhaar card, Scheduled Tribes (ST) certificate and ...

Par panel asks govt to have a national consensus on NPR, census to allay apprehensions
Yahoo India News
'The Aadhaar metadata also includes the entire family's surname, address etc. Therefore, the committee fails to understand as to why this should be ...

Allahabad HC to hear plea for having a fixed NPR data collection proforma
Business Standard
"During the aforesaid process, the Aadhaar number from each residents shall also be collected in addition to his/her mobile number, election photo ...

Supreme Court Bar Association steps in to offer legal help
Telegraph India
For claims, documents like Aadhaar, voter identity and photo evidence are being sought. But many who ran for their lives in the middle of the night ...

It's 31 COVID-19 cases after confirmation of 1 in Delhi
The Hindu
All Ministries/ Department are also requested to exempt their employees to mark biometric attendance in Aadhaar Based Biometric Attendance System ...

Loan waiver scheme to end on March 31
The Hindu
... the scheme has so far benefited more than 25 lakh farmers' families, who were identified based on land records, Aadhaar, and ration card to prevent ...

IRCTC iMudra Wallet: Benefits of having this e-wallet
Zee Business
The subscribers of iMudra e-wallet can complete their KYC using their Aadhaar Number and the mobile number linked with their Aadhaar.

SSC CHSL 2020 Tier 1 admit card released for Central Region
Times of India
... such as Aadhaar Card/ printout of E-Aadhaar, Driving License, Voter Card, PAN Card, Identity Card issued by University/ College/ Government,

Kollam: Safe home still too far for this family
Times of India
Manikuttan's family neither had ration card nor Aadhaar to claim the benefits. A manual labourer, Manikkuttan was finding it impossible to construct a ...

Coronavirus: Central govt stops biometric attendances till March 31
ABP Live
"All central government employees were exempted from marking attendance through Aadhaar-based biometric system as a preventive measure to ...

SSC CHSL Tier 1 admit card 2020 released for Central Region; Know how to download
Zee Business
... Proof such as Aadhaar Card/ printout of E-Aadhaar, Driving License, Voter Card, PAN Card, Identity Card issued by University/ College/Government ...

Coronavirus: Anganwadis Closed in Delhi, Morning School Assemblies Halted
NewsClick
All central government employees were on Friday exempted from marking attendance through Aadhaar-based biometric system as a preventive ...

Govt To Set Up More Recovery Centres To Safeguard Sensitive Census Data
Inc42 Media
The multipurpose ID card would include passport, Aadhaar and the voter card. It was also announced that a National Population Register was being ...