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

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

5825 - Card over biometrics in Modi's grand scheme



Surabhi Agarwal, Vrishti Beniwal & Nitin Sethi  |  New Delhi  September 1, 2014 Last Updated at 00:19 IST



The government has opted for the RuPay debit card over the Aadhaar-based platform for "last-mile" authentication in its Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana. The move, experts contend, could burden the scheme with a large additional cost and, arguably, a less effective financial inclusion model.

The beneficiary accounts will still be seeded with Aadhaar, both for Know Your Customer norms and identification for the overdraft facility. However, actual transactions of cash at the final leg would be done through RuPay debit cards. The card-based model has so far failed to work efficiently in including the poor in the formal banking sector.

By choosing a card over biometrics, the government seems to have opted for a "more traditional" route and might not have been "brave enough" to try the new one, said Praveen Chakravarty, founder trustee of IndiaSpend, and a former banker. The government contends, however, that using the card route will avoid the restrictions put by the Supreme Court on making Aadhaar mandatory for government schemes.

Issues

Giving out another card, with a promise of insurance and a credit facility, also adds to the already large pool of existing smart cards by many state governments and central departments under their social welfare schemes. "The mode of payment of most of these schemes, be it biometrics or smart cards, are not synchronised. They mostly overlap each other and mean significant cost for the exchequer," said Chakravarty. The most recent example of this is the Bhamashah Financial Empowerment Scheme of the Rajasthan government, under which each household will be given a card linked to a bank account. Payments in all state welfare schemes of the government such as health insurance, pension or public distribution system will be sent to the biometric-enabled accounts. Several other states have embarked on similar projects.

The Unique Identification (UID) project went through a prolonged period of uncertainty. It was partly salvaged by Nandan Nilekani, the UID Authority of India's former chairman, during his meeting with the new Prime Minister. But, in Narendra Modi's grand scheme, only parts of Nilekani's entire plan for financial inclusion have been brought on board. "The use of telephony and private banks would have created a more holistic financial inclusion ecosystem. The government has only taken bits of the model that was envisaged two years ago," said an expert associated with the Aadhaar programme.

According to a government official, under the financial inclusion plan of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), around 180 million accounts have already been opened in the country but most are defunct. "There are multiple problems with the chip and pin model of the card," the official said. There is a huge up-front cost of giving out cards (between Rs 50 and Rs 100 each), along with the recurring expenses to maintain it. The burden of card ownership, especially for the poor, can be onerous, with dangers of theft and, sometime, life threats."

Adding: "The target audience of this card (mostly rural, undereducated citizens) might also find it extremely difficult to operate them through PINs. A biometric-based model would have allowed them to just give their fingerprints and withdraw money."

Through the biometric-based transaction model, one can withdraw money using only the Aadhaar number and the fingerprint through micro-ATMs and also at retail outlets.

The official, who did not wish to be identified, added that as the Jan Dhan Yojana is planned to integrate with the Direct Benefits Transfer project, the biggest fear will be continued leakages in subsidies. "You don't have to be physically present to withdraw money with a card, so a middleman can keep the cards and the PIN of villagers and not give them their full due." A mandatory biometric authentication would have significantly curtailed this issue, the official added.

Why and next

The government might have chosen to go without the mandatory Aadhaar authentication for transactions due to several overhangs at the project. The biggest deterrent is the Supreme Court order which has directed the government to not make the UID number mandatory for availing welfare payments. Also, though RBI had given a go-ahead to Aadhaar-based biometrics as an additional factor of authentication for card transactions, bankers had opposed the move. The matter is currently under review by a committee.

A little over half the country's population has been enrolled under UID; however, the other half might have lessened the reach. Also, proponents of the card-based model feel as biometric-based authentication always requires internet connectivity, the model might not work in far-flung regions. "Card-based technology is tested and reliable. On biometrics, there is still a question mark, especially in India where so many people engage in manual labour and, therefore, could be susceptible to changing fingerprints. Biometric authentication might prove a challenge in such cases," said economist and social activist Reetika Khera.

Under the project, launched on Thursday, 21.4 million new accounts have already been opened so far, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Saturday. The government's efforts to promote the 'swadeshi' RuPay debit card might have also gelled with Narendra Modi's 'Made in India' approach. "If we use international cards, there is a currency outgo as the payment is settled aboard. RuPay will be the first domestic card. Everyone should use it. It can be an additional card," said a finance ministry official.

In the next stage, the government will try to make it an international payment gateway. Popularity of the Made-in-India RuPay card might be another reason to push this model. While there are 400 million existing debit cards, the RuPay ones have already crossed the 21.4-millionmark in three days.