AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: no npr uid merger

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 no npr uid merger. Show all posts

Saturday, July 26, 2014

5723 - No proposal to integrate UID & NPR: Govt - Deccan Herald

No proposal to integrate UID & NPR: Govt

New Delhi, Jul 25, 2014, (PTI)

Government is not considering any proposal to integrate the UID (Aadhaar) project with National Population Register (NPR), Parliament was informed today.

"There is no such proposal under consideration of the government at this stage," Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, when asked whether it proposes to integrate UID with NPR.

On giving statutory status to Aadhaar, Singh said: "A notice for introduction of the bill (for the purpose) alongwith official amendments was moved in the Parliament during Winter Session, 2013. However the same could not be taken up for consideration."

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2010 and was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations over certain issues.

Giving indications that the new government will continue Aadhaar enrolments, Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided in the budget for the Aadhaar for the current fiscal, as against Rs 1,550 crore released in 2013-14.

As per latest information available, as many as 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July, with 8.45 crore rejections by the Unique Identification Authority of India implementing the project.

UIDAI has generated 64.05 crore Aadhaars and incurred an expenditure of Rs 4,620.61 crore so far since its inception.

The minister informed the House that Aadhaar enrolments are being carried out in all districts of 22 states and union territories allocated to the project.

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India's population was to be covered under the NPR project.

It was decided by the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI during UPA regime that all residents would be issued National Multi-purpose Identity Cards under NPR, and UIDAI would generate Unique identification number for entire population.

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing NMIC and generating unique identification number.

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry.

5720 - No move to integrate UID & NPR, says govt - Financial Express

No move to integrate UID & NPR, says govt

PTI | New Delhi | Published: Jul 26 2014, 10:17 IST

SUMMARY

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India’s population was to be covered under the NPR project.

The government is not considering any proposal to integrate the UID (Aadhaar) project with National Population Register (NPR), Parliament was informed on Friday.

“There is no such proposal under consideration of the government at this stage,” Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, when asked whether it proposes to integrate UID with NPR.

On giving statutory status to Aadhaar, Singh said: “A notice for introduction of the bill (for the purpose) along with official amendments was moved in Parliament during Winter Session, 2013. However, the same could not be taken up for consideration.”

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2010 and was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations over some issues.

Giving indications that the new government will continue Aadhaar enrolments, Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided in the Budget for the Aadhaar for the current fiscal, as against Rs 1,550 crore released in 2013-14.

As per latest information available, as many as 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July, with 8.45 crore rejections by the Unique Identification Authority of India implementing the project.

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India’s population was to be covered under the NPR project.

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing National Multi-purpose Identidy Card (NMIC) and generating unique identification number.

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the MHA.

Friday, July 11, 2014

5670 - Govt to continue Aadhaar, provides Rs 2K Cr for it in 2014-15 - Business Standard

Govt to continue Aadhaar, provides Rs 2K Cr for it in 2014-15

Press Trust of India | New Delhi July 10, 2014 Last Updated at 19:58 IST

Giving indications that the new government is likely to continue Aadhaar enrollments, a sum of Rs 2,039 crore has been provided in the budget for the Unique Identification Project in the current fiscal.

"A sum of Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided for 2014-15 to execute the task of implementing Unique Identification as entrusted to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)," the budget document tabled in Parliament stated.

The amount provided for the project for this fiscal is higher than Rs 1,550 crore provided in the previous year.

The UIDAI was set up in 2009 under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani. It comes under the Planning Commission.

Media reports suggest that the government wants UIDAI to enroll 100 million more residents. UIDAI has already enrolled about 700 million people and issued Aadhaar cards having unique identification number to 650 million.

UIDAI was mandated to collect biometrics of 600 million residents in the country and rest of the population was to be covered under the National Population Register (NPR) project.

It was decided by the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI during UPA regime that all residents would be issue National Multi-purpose Identity Cards under NPR and UIDAI would generate Unique identification number for the entire population.

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing NMIC and generating unique identification number.

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry. Government has initiated the creation of this database, by collecting specific information of all usual residents in the country during the house listing and housing census phase of Census 2011.

Last week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi held a meeting with Home Ministry and UIDAI officials to find a way forward. As per media reports, Modi backed Aadhaar enrollments and wanted to restart the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme.

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations by it own ministers.

The new government has also provided Rs 369.57 crore for public finance management system for tracking and reporting expenditure along with generation of state-wise/district wise reports on the expenditure, outputs and the unutilized amount under each Plan scheme.

The UIDAI was to enroll residents in 18 states in the country. Later its mandate was expanded to enroll in four more states--Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhatisgarh and Uttarakhand.

5668 - Home ministry seeks data on beneficiaries Ministry wants to match its National Population Register with the data of other departments Aman Malik

Home ministry seeks data on beneficiaries Ministry wants to match its National Population Register with the data of other departments Aman Malik

A file photo of home minister Rajnath Singh. Photo: Hindustan

Times New Delhi: The home ministry has sought data on beneficiaries of subsidies and various state-funded schemes from ministries that are managing the welfare programmes or disbursing the subsidies. Home secretary Anil Goswami wrote to his counterparts in the oil and gas, rural development, food and public distribution and minority affairs ministries, asking them to share the data, two senior government officials independently said. Neither official wanted to be identified since they are not authorized to speak to reporters.

The home ministry wants to match the data held by it as part of the National Population Register (NPR) with the database of these respective departments, the two officials cited above said.

The home ministry has made the request following a direction from Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday, the officials said. “It is unclear why the home ministry wants this data, since disbursal of subsidies is not its function. Aadhaar is mandated to do that,” one of the two officials cited above said. While cooking gas, kerosene and diesel subsidies come under the purview of the oil and gas ministry, disbursement of funds from the Central government under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act is spearheaded by the rural affairs ministry. Further, subsidies linked to the public distribution system are disbursed by the food and public distribution department. Mint first reported on Saturday that the government was unlikely to merge the Unique Identification Number or Aadhaar with the NPR and that it could bring back the Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for cooking gas and other subsidies, a decision taken at a meeting chaired by Modi earlier that day. Senior government officials had said that Saturday’s decision had overridden Thursday’s decision to form a panel of secretaries to look into the possibility of merging Aadhaar with the NPR. The home ministry’s latest move comes even as it seeks to move ahead with a plan to identify Indian citizens via the NPR and issue citizenship cards in the next three years. “The scheme of NPR has been reviewed and it has been decided that NPR should be completed and taken to its logical conclusion, which is the creation of NRIC (National Register of Indian Citizens) by verification of citizenship status of every usual resident in the NPR. Relevant proposal will be prepared based on the decision of the government,” junior home minister Kiren Rijiju said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha on 8 July. “We have to identify who is an Indian citizen and who is not. We have to take steps to identify genuine Indian citizens,” home minister Rajnath Singh separately told the Lok Sabha, Press Trust of India reported. “The NPR will be prepared in a time-bound manner. NPR will identify who is an Indian citizen and who is not. All genuine Indian citizens will get a national identity card,” the report quoted Singh as saying. There has been intense speculation in recent weeks over the role of the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), especially since the new government has decided to give a push to the NPR and the citizenship card.

5662 - Modi to take UPA’s Aadhaar, DBT schemes forward - eGov

Modi to take UPA’s Aadhaar, DBT schemes forward

July 11th 2014

It’s official now. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will carry forward the erstwhile UPA government’s flagship Aadhaar project and the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme.

Giving the Aadhaar programmes a new lease of life, Modi recently sought a 100-crore enrolment target at the “earliest”.

The current enrolment is at 70 crore, with 65 crore Aadhaar cards already issued. He is also reported to have asked the officials to look into the possibility of linking passports with its data.

PM Modi also pitched for all Aadhaar-based DBT schemes, including for LPG, which the previous government had scrapped, at a meeting with Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Director General Vijay Madan on July 5.

While there have been talks of merging Aadhaar with the National Population Register, officials say that appears ruled out for now.

Government sources said the additional enrolment should be feasible given the “interest and push” the Modi government now seems to be displaying, along with its focus on monitoring and effective implementation. “Aadhaar enrolment and DBT rollout had all slowed down with the UPA regime having lost interest in the project. But the new Prime Minister has emphasised fast-tracking it. With close monitoring and support by the government, the targets should not be tough to achieve,” a senior government official said.

Saturday’s meeting also discussed linking the recently launched e-passport system with Aadhaar, using the biometric data collected under the latter, thus avoiding duplication of work. Sources say the issue of Aadhaar being applicable to all residents and not just nationals, a key concern expressed by the BJP in the past, did come up for discussion but given that the issue does not fall in the UIDAI’s mandate, it is up to the Home Ministry to resolve it.

The DBT scheme, launched by the UPA with much fanfare, had taken a hit because of implementation gaps and poor monitoring. Modi has asked officials to implement the scheme in 300 districts on a priority basis where Aadhaar enrolment is over 80 per cent. Officials say this essentially leaves out districts in states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where enrolment is dismally low.

- See more at: http://egov.eletsonline.com/2014/07/modi-to-take-upas-aadhaar-dbt-schemes-forward/#sthash.dYP0rmef.dpuf