AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: mandatory for admissions in govt schools

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 mandatory for admissions in govt schools. Show all posts

Tuesday, November 8, 2016

10492 - Supreme Court finds govt. defying its order on Aadhaar - The Hindu

NEW DELHI, September 26, 2016

Supreme Court finds govt. defying its order on Aadhaar

Krishnadas Rajagopal

Plea against govt. order making it mandatory for scholarship schemes.

The Centre was caught red-handed defying a Supreme Court order directing that no citizen will be denied benefits under a government scheme for want of an Aadhaar card.

A Bench of Justices Gopala V. Gowda and A.K. Goel discovered that the Centre had been insisting that students submit their Aadhaar number for applying for government scholarship schemes.

On October 15, 2015, a Constitution Bench led by then Chief Justice of India H.L. Dattu had held that citizens cannot be forced to produce his Aadhaar to avail themselves of government welfare schemes and benefits.

It had even hinted that the government risked contempt of court if it chooses to continue to make the Aadhaar number a mandatory condition. But the government seemed to have ignored the court’s warning in this case. A petition filed by the All-Bengal Minority Students Council clearly exposed the defiance.

The petition pointed to a letter addressed by the Centre to States and Union Territories to make Aadhaar a mandatory condition for applying for pre-matric, post-matric and merit-cum-means scholarship schemes. The letter, dated July 14, 2016, plainly directed that “submission of Aadhaar is mandatory” for students.

Staying the implementation of the letter recently, the court directed the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology to remove Aadhaar as a mandatory condition for student registration from its national scholarship portal.

It stayed the instruction insisting on Aadhaar from government advertisements for the scholarship schemes.

On October 15 last year, the Constitution Bench had extended the voluntary use of Aadhaar cards to the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), pensions schemes, Employee Provident Fund and the Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana.

The Bench was modifying an August 2015 order restricting Aadhaar use to only PDS and LPG distribution.

The Constitution Bench had directed that the voluntary nature of Aadhaar would continue now.

Saturday, October 24, 2015

8990 - Aadhaar card mandatory for govt school students? - TNN

Aadhaar card mandatory for govt school students?

Shivani Saxena, TNN | Oct 21, 2015, 09.52PM IST

DEHRADUN: To check cases of fake registration in government schools, the education department has urged DMs of all 13 districts to ensure that each and every student has an Aadhaar card by the end of this year.

An education department official said that recent surprise inspections in government schools have shown several cases where students' names are mentioned on paper but they do not exist.

Taking serious note of this, the department has decided to introduce a software which will keep a tab on students, but for this, it will need unique identification of each and every single student enrolled in government schools across the state. For this purpose, Aadhaar cards are being considered to avoid any duplication or fraud.

Education department officials said that all the state's district magistrates have been requested by DG, school education, Senthil Pandiyan to direct agencies, involved in making Aadhaar cards, to ensure that all government school students have their own Aadhar card by December 31. The state education department will give the necessary assistance to expedite the process, they added.

Government school principals and students have welcomed the announcement. Neelam Joshi, principal, government girls inter-college (GGIC), Lakhibag said, "We have around 750 girls in our school and more than 50% of them have got their Aadhaar cards since September. I feel it is a great step by the education department."

Education authorities added that Aadhaar card would give much-needed identification to students as they usually do not have pan cards, driving license or other documents.

Akansha Thapa, a government school student from Doon, said, "I feel all grown-up having my personal identification in the form of Aadhaar card. Almost all students in our school have submitted applications for making Aadhaar cards."

Sunday, April 5, 2015

7721 - E-admissions kick off in 24 govt schools - TNN

E-admissions kick off in 24 govt schools

TNN | Apr 4, 2015, 02.27AM IST

Online admission process has been made mandatory in 24 government schools in Gurgaon from April 1. The directorate of education has released a list of 504 schools in the state that will follow the process starting this academic session. All schools have been given a web page on the directorate's website, where candidates can log in and fill up the form, by April 11.TNN

Some students and their parent, however, find the entire process elaborate and many are finding it difficult to fill up the two-page online forms with 11 columns requiring too much information. "The students and their parents are required to provide email-ids and Aadhaar card number. Many of the villagers in Gurgaon do not carry Aadhaar or have an email address. Online admissions should not be made mandatory in government schools," said Samar Yadav, who is seeking admission for his four-year-old daughter in a school in Islampur.

The district admission, however, claims that they are well prepared. "We are simply following the orders of the directorate. We will ensure that the entire process takes place smoothly in these schools so that by next year, we can introduce the process in other schools," said Manoj Kaushik, district education officer, Gurgaon.

The government schools that will shift to online admissions from this year include Khentawas, Bajghera, Mohammadpur Jharsa, Bhim Nagar, Kadipur, Islampur, Sukhrali, Civil Line, Garhi Harsaru, Dhankot, Wazirabad, Sarhaul, Arjunnagar, Dundahera, Gurgaon village, Gwal Pahari and Sushant Lok.