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, April 11, 2018

13262 - Supreme Court rebuts Centre’s arguments on privacy infringement in Aadhaar case - Hindustan Times


Arguing for Aadhaar, the government referred to verdicts in two earlier cases relating to privacy and said the Supreme Court had then held that privacy was not a fundamental right. The SC bench said the question of privacy was “irrelevant” in these cases.

INDIA Updated: Apr 10, 2018 20:53 Ist
Press Trust of India, New Delhi

The Supreme Court today rebutted the Centre’s defence that collection of biometric details has not infringed the right to privacy of the citizens even if these were collected before the enactment of a law on Aadhaar in 2016.

While the government referred to verdicts in two earlier cases relating to privacy and said the top court had then held that privacy was not a fundamental right, the apex court bench said the question of privacy was “irrelevant” in these cases.

A five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra has been persistently asking the Centre what would be the status of the biometric details collected between 2010 and 2016 as there was no enabling law empowering the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to collect personal details for Aadhaar registrations.

A nine-judge bench, on August 24, 2017, had held that the right to privacy was a fundamental right and laid down parameters to test State action regarding its infringement. It had held that one of the conditions was that there should be a law.

On the 26th day of the ongoing arguments, Attorney General K K Venugopal referred to the apex court verdicts in the M P Sharma (1950) and the Kharak Singh (1962) cases and said these had held that the right to privacy was not a fundamental right and hence, the Centre and the UIDAI had not violated the privacy rights while collecting biometric details between 2010 and 2016, when there was no law.

“All subsequent judgements of smaller benches, holding right to privacy as a fundamental right, were per incuriam (characterised by lack of due regard to the law),” Venugopal submitted before the bench, which also comprised justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan.
“Privacy was not a fundamental right when UIDAI was collecting the biometric details from the citizens,” he said, adding that moreover, during 2010 to 2016, the collection of biometric details under Aadhaar scheme was voluntary and hence, nobody can claim that they were forced to part with personal details.
The top law officer said the judgements in the M P Sharma and the Kharak Singh cases were overruled in 2017 only in the Justice Puttaswamy verdict that had held the right to privacy as a fundamental right.

However, Justice Chandrachud, who had penned the main privacy verdict, differed with Venugopal and said, “we have dealt with the M P Sharma order in our judgement. There was no occasion for the bench to deal with privacy. In that case, the petitioner was asked to produce some documents... (so) the question of privacy was irrelevant in M P Sharma (case).”

The court said the M P Sharma judgement had held that in the absence of a provision similar to the Fourth Amendment to the US Constitution, the right to privacy cannot be read into the provision of Article 20(3) (no person can be forced to be a witness against himself) of the Constitution.

“The judgment does not specifically adjudicate on whether right to privacy would arise from any of the other provisions of the rights guaranteed by Part III including Article 21 and Article 19,” it said, adding that the right to privacy was not required to be discussed in the M P Sharma verdict.

Venugopal, however, said he was not “giving up” his arguments on the issue.
At the outset, Venugopal referred the case laws to show that a particular action can be validated by a subsequent Act which has been done in the case of Aadhaar.
He also read out the Aadhaar enrolment form to buttress his stand that Aadhaar enrolment was “free and voluntary and has the provisions for taking informed consent”.
Venugopal then said that the UIDAI does not part with Aadhaar details without the consent of the individual and referred to an example when the CBI had to move the Bombay high court to obtain the biometrics of an accused in connection with a rape case as the UIDAI had refused to provide biometric data.
The top law officer wound up his submissions on behalf of the Centre during the marathon hearing on a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar and its enabling 2016 law.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for UIDAI, started his arguments and referred to a judgement by which the apex court had allowed the Centre to link Aadhaar with PAN cards.
“The challenge to section 139 AA of the Income Tax Act was examined by this court. Apart from right to privacy, all other aspects were considered,” he said, adding that moreover, the Privacy judgement has also affirmed that right to privacy is not absolute.
He said the demographic information required under Aadhaar was already being taken since 1989 under section 139A of the Income Tax Act for obtaining the PAN. Left hand thumb impression was also taken for people who cannot sign, he contended.
To this, the bench said “There was no collection of biometrics and there was no authentication taking place at that time.”
Mehta then referred to reports of SIT on black money and said that Aadhaar has helped in getting rid of fake ration and PAN cards. He will resume arguments tomorrow.


(This story has not been modified from its original version)