AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: Aadhaar not mandatory for Bank Accounts

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

Showing posts with label Aadhaar not mandatory for Bank Accounts. Show all posts

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

13613 - Aadhaar-bank a/c linking ‘cannot be mandated’ - Hindu Businessline

Aadhaar-bank a/c linking ‘cannot be mandated’

SHISHIR SINHA

The apex court has extended the last date for linking Aadhaar with bank accounts till its final judgment of the case - NYT

Aadhaar, PAN mandatory for Customs broker licence: Tax Dept

Law Ministry sees no issue in seeding the Unique ID with PAN

NEW DELHI, MAY 27

The Law Ministry has clarified that Aadhaar linkage with savings bank account cannot be made mandatory. However, it has opined that there is no problem in linking the Permanent Account Number, or PAN, with Aadhaar.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identity number and though backed by an Act, its constitutional validity has been challenged in the Supreme Court. Hearing in this case is over and the apex court has reserved its verdict. There is no clarity on when the verdict will be out, but debates outside the court still continue.

“In our opinion, mandatory linkage of Aadhaar with savings bank account is not required as there is no clarity in the Banking Regulation Act,” a senior Law Ministry official told BusinessLine. He also said that the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) have been advised to consult the Solicitor-General, the country’s top law officer, besides waiting for the apex court verdict to make the next move.

Earlier, the Government had set a deadline of March 31, 2018 for seeding Aadhaar with bank account. However, after an interim order by the apex court, the Government on March 31 postponed the deadline indefinitely. “Whereas the Supreme Court, vide its interim order dated 13th March, 2018 in the case of Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr V Union of India, WP (Civil) 494/2012 etc. (Aadhaar Cases), has extended the last date for linking Aadhaar with existing bank accounts from 31.03.2018 till the final judgment of the case,” it said in a notification. According to the notification, the Government also extended the date of submission of Aadhaar Number, and Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Form 60 by the clients to the reporting entity “till a date to be notified subsequent to pronouncement of final judgment in WP (C) 494/2012 etc.” Here, ‘reporting entity’ means banks and ‘client’ means account holders.

Interestingly, on April 20, the RBI made changes in its master circular on KYC and made linking of Aadhaar to bank accounts mandatory as part of its updated ‘Know Your Customer (KYC)’ guidelines. However, it made it clear that this will be subject to the final decision of the Supreme Court in the Aadhaar matter.

Prior to the issuance of this circular, an Officially Valid Document (OVD) for address proof together with Permanent Account Number (PAN) issued by the Income Tax Department and a recent passport size photograph were the key KYC documents. But in the amended Customer Due Diligence (CDD) procedure, the RBI said, “The Aadhaar number, the PAN or Form No. 60” need to be obtained from an individual who is eligible for applying for the biometric ID.

PAN Aadhaar Linkage

Meanwhile, the official quoted above said that there are no problems in mandatory seeding of Aadhaar with the 10-digit PAN. “Necessary amendment has been made in the Income Tax Act which will facilitate this,” he said. Earlier, the Government set the deadline of March 31, 2018 for the linkage. However, on March 27, the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) extended the time till June 30, 2018.

Published on May 27, 2018

Friday, November 3, 2017

12231 - RBI Takes a Complete U-Turn, Says Linking Aadhaar to Bank Account is Mandatory - News Click

RBI Takes a Complete U-Turn, Says Linking Aadhaar to Bank Account is Mandatory

Earlier, in an RTI, the RBI had completely denied issuing any order to public and private sector banks for making Aadhaar mandatory.

Newsclick Report 21 Oct 2017

Newsclick Image by Nitesh Kumar

A day after revealing that it has not issued any direction to public sector or private banks to ask their customers to Aadhaar linked to all their accounts in order to ensure it is not frozen, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Saturday said linkage of the biometric identity number with bank accounts is “mandatory”.

“The Reserve Bank clarifies that, in applicable cases, linkage of Aadhaar number to a bank account is mandatory under the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017 published in the Official Gazette on June 1, 2017,” the central bank said in a statement.

These rules have statutory force and, as such, banks have to implement them without awaiting further instructions, it said.

Earlier, the RBI had said in reply to a Right to Information (RTI) Act application filed by journalist Yogesh Sapkale who is associated with Moneylife.in that the apex bank has not issued any order for mandatory Aadhaar linkage with bank accounts, making it clear that the central bank and the government are no on the same page.

The reply had further revealed that the decision is entirely that of the central government.

When asked to provide a “copy of the notification/master direction/master circular/draft notification or guidelines issued by the Reserve Bank to all banks for mandatory linking Aadhar number of customers to their accounts”, the RBI had said, “The Government has issued a Gazette Notification GSR 538(E) dated 1 June 2017 regarding Prevention of Money laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, inter-alia, making furnishing of Aadhaar (for those individuals who are eligible to be enrolled for Aadhaar) and permanent number (PAN) mandatory for opening a bank account. It may be noted that the Reserve Bank has not yet issued an instruction in this regard.”

“(The) Reserve Bank has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory linking of Aadhaar number with a bank account,” it had further stated.

It had also revealed that it has not even filed any petition with the Supreme Court on seeking explicit permission of linking the two. “(The) RBI has not filed any petition with the Supreme Court," the RBI said in response to the query.

In its “fight against tax evasion”, the Centre has made it mandatory to quote the Aadhaar number for opening bank accounts and also made Aadhaar compulsory for 135 schemes (of 35 ministries) including free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertiliser subsidy, targeted public distribution system (PDS) and MGNREGA.

However, the Supreme Court has restricted usage of Aadhaar to six schemes where the government provides benefits or subsidy to individuals.

Banks through e-mail and text messages are threatening their customers to get both linked in order to enjoy seamless a banking experience.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.

12221 - Aadhaar-bank a/c linking: RBI says never issued any order in this regard - Deccan Chrinicle

Aadhaar-bank a/c linking: RBI says never issued any order in this regard

DECCAN CHRONICLE.

Published

Oct 20, 2017, 3:35 pm IST

An RTI was filed seeking copy of file along with file notings regarding linking of Aadhaar with bank accounts.

An RTI query has revealed that the Reserve Bank of India never issued any directions regarding mandatory linking of Aadhaar and bank accounts.

Mumbai: Amidst banks and the government urging people to link their Aadhaar with bank accounts by December 31, an RTI query has revealed that the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) never issued any directions in this regard.

In reply to an RTI query filed by MoneyLife, the central bank said it "has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory liking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts." The RBI was responding to a specific query made for availing copy of the file along with file notings regarding mandatory linking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts.

In a notification dated June 1, 2017, the government had said that bank accounts not linked to Aadhaar will be declared inoperable post December 31.

The RTI query also explicitly asked if the apex bank had taken permission from the Supreme Court for mandatory linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar. The RBI replied saying it has not filed any petition before the SC.

Aadhaar has been a huge point of debate in recent times and its validity has been questioned by many. The Supreme Court has restricted its usage for six schemes (banking services not being one of them). The apex court is also due to hear petitions questioning the validity of Aadhaar.

12219 - RBI says linking bank account with Aadhaar not mandatory: Report - Indian Express

RBI says linking bank account with Aadhaar not mandatory: Report

By Online Desk | Published: 19th October 2017 04:48 PM |

Image used for representational purpose only. (File photo | Reuters)

In the wake of banks threatening their customers with the suspension of accounts for failing to link with Aadhar, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has said that it "has not issued any instruction so far regarding mandatory liking of Aadhaar number with bank accounts." The central bank revealed the information in response to an RTI application filed by Yogesh Sapkale of news website moneylife.in.

The response indicates that the decision on mandatory linking of bank accounts with Aadhaar comes from the central government alone and not the RBI.

RBI said: "The Government has issued a Gazette Notification GSR 538(E) dated 1 June 2017 regarding Prevention of Money laundering (Maintenance of Records) Second Amendment Rules, 2017, inter-alia, making furnishing of Aadhaar (for those individuals who are eligible to be enrolled for Aadhaar) and permanent number (PAN) mandatory for opening a bank account. It may be noted that Reserve Bank has not yet issued an instruction in this regard".

Even though the Supreme Court has restricted the usage of Aadhaar to six schemes, the Central government has made it mandatory to link Aadhar for over 50 centrally-sponsored schemes. Legal experts have questioned the validity of the order, which blatantly violates the Supreme Court order on Aadhar.

The moneylife.in article points out that the Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act says giving the Aadhaar number is required for receiving benefits or services for which expenditure comes from Consolidated Fund of India. But a person who is a bank customer mostly uses his or her own money for the account, and not from the Fund.