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

Friday, April 13, 2018

13265 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 12th April 2018



Economic Times
NEW DELHI: The government and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that no Aadhaar card has been duplicated. They claimed that these cards were the least invasive and most successful way of plugging leaks in the country's system which ...






Times of India
NEW DELHI: How can Aadhaar curb the menace of money laundering which poses a threat to the economy, the Supreme Court asked the Centre on ... It also submitted that linking Aadhaar number with PAN would prevent income tax evasion, circulation and use of black money, besides the practice will ...






Live Law
On Day 27 of the Aadhaar final hearing, ASG Tushar Mehta addressed the concerns regarding the alleged infringement, under the Aadhaar scheme, of the right to privacy, upheld as a Fundamental Right in the 2017 nine-judge bench judgment in Justice K. S. Puttaswamy, in the light of the Aadhaar-PAN ...






Qrius
After Nirmala Nishikant Dhumane, an Ahmednagar resident sought to know why her pension was withheld for want of an Aadhaar card, the Central Information Commission (CIC) stated that senior citizens without an Aadhaar card will not be denied pension. The EPFO (Employees' Provident Fund ...






Times of India
Government form asks kids: Parents' Aadhaar number and if they are in an 'unclean occupation' ... The form, which has 100 sub-heads, has been given by schools to students across Haryana, including Gurugram, also seeks Aadhaar and PAN numbers, religion, caste, income and bank account details ...\



The Indian Express
It also means permission to share with third parties data like bank account and transaction records, Aadhaar related information, the UPI PIN, virtual payment address, payment details, credit and debit card information, demographic and profile data about users' activity on apps, information about ...






Jagran Josh
The constitution bench is hearing a batch of petitions filed by former Karnataka High Court Judge KS Puttuswamy, Shanta Sinha, feminist Kalyani Sen Menon, social activist Aruna Roy, Nachiket Udupa and others challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act at the backdrop of the ...




Project Syndicate
When the Aadhaar scheme was introduced, Modi – then the chief minister of Gujarat – vociferously opposed it, pledging to scrap the project if his Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. As prime minister, however, Modi has embraced the program, ordering that the identification numbers be linked to ...






MediaNama.com
The ASG, Tushar Mehta resumed his submissions on behalf of the UIDAI. He wanted to place reliance on Para 92 of the Binoy Viswam judgment as reported in 2017 7 SCC 59. He said theargument that the Aadhaar act was made in violation of interim orders of the Supreme Court is no longer open after ...






Deccan Chronicle
You cannot compare it with the Aadhaar situation where 128 crore people are mandatorily asked to link their SIMs, bank accounts and PAN cards with their Aadhaar cards.” Mehta said, “When a measure is uniformly applied, it does not mean that everyone is guilty. An administrative measure does mean ...






The Logical Indian
Aadhaar had already granted access to the third gender category but not PAN. “Transgenders were not able to link their PAN with their Aadhaar due to such anomaly,“ the official added. According to the new changes made by Finance Ministry, the amendment will now be seen in the PAN form as 49A ...






The Wire
While the sixth point demands the student's Aadhaar number, the 19th asks for the father's Aadhaar number and 36th asks “whether parents engaged in 'unclean occupation'?” It it doesn't end there. Point 72 seeks the caste (if reserved category) of the student, even though this has nothing to do with ...






Telangana Today
Activists from various States had petitioned the I-T Department and the Supreme Court for inclusion of transgender in the PAN card, since PAN is now as important as Aadhaar in most official transactions,” Rachana Mudraboyina, president of Telangana Hijra Transgender Intersex Samithi, said.






Daily News & Analysis
The BJP-ruled Haryana government's education department had handed a 100-point questionnaire form to students of Class 11 and 12 students in private schools seeking details about their Aadhaar number, religion, caste, bank account number. The questionnaire also sought to know if the parents of ...






Gizmodo
Established at the turn of the decade, the Aadhaar program hopes to use biometric data much like America uses social security numbers, helping the government keep track of rural and poor populations that often escape government notice and ensuring better delivery of services and subsidies. So far ...






The Shillong Times
Asked about paperless travel in view of Aadhaar's credibility being questioned on security issues, he said many more passengers were quickly adapting to innovations and technologies when it came to air travel. Referring to SITA's 2017 Passenger IT Trends report, he said passengers prefer technology ...