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

Monday, July 10, 2017

11590 - Aadhaar: A Kafkaesque Trial In The Making - Huffington Post


We are entering a nightmarish world where we find ourselves utterly helpless before authority.
05/07/2017 8:42 AM IST | Updated 05/07/2017 12:47 PM IST

Ritvik Khare
Student, University of Waterloo


NOAH SEELAM VIA GETTY IMAGES


With the advent of Aadhaar as a ubiquitous part of our life, Franz Kafka's magnum-opus The Trial offers some interesting parallels with the reality of the common citizens of this country.
Aadhaar is riddled with ethical problems and loopholes. It is not only mandatory for availing of welfare schemes and filing tax returns, but there are also serious questions about security, privacy and inefficient implementation techniques.

We are in a world defined by Kafka where for the simplest of tasks, the official solution is a long-winding road filed with red-tape and bribery check-points.

We are entering a Kafkaesque reality—a nightmarish and unpleasant world where we find ourselves utterly helpless before authority. In a Kafkaesque world (which may soon be our world in India), everything is bizarre and illogical. Nothing makes sense. Isolated, we can't comprehend how we entered this maze, and the authority figures of judges, officials, and politicians seem above reach.

Aadhaar, which stood for inclusivity and streamlining of governmental services, has acted like anything but. At the ground level, the initial enrollment in Aadhaar was marred with technical problems and corruption. The government handed out private contractors the duty to enroll people in the scheme, which openly flouted governmental rule and fleeced the poor in the name of processing fees. As for rations and other schemes, thousands of the people are being denied access to their allotted pensions, and rations. The positive biometric authentication mechanism regularly faces problems of internet connectivity, machine malfunction, and other technical issues. It would be best to read the ground reports of Nikhil Dey and Aruna Roy to understand the gravity of the situation (see here and here).

We are in a world defined by Kafka where for the simplest of tasks, the official solution is a long-winding road filed with red-tape and bribery check-points. The process itself provides a convenient environment for government officials (shakedown artist) to earn a quick buck at expense of the uninformed (mainly the poor).

The government continues to make Aadhaar mandatory for essential services such as ambulances, MNREGA and a myriad of schemes that mainly cater to the poor. It is absurd, much like the bureaucratic horrors endured by Josef K, the protagonist of The Trial. Josef is arrested but is not told why or what his charge is. He is rendered helpless in the face of countless judges, guards, attorneys, who hammer him down with bureaucratic procedure. His requests go unanswered, and his calls of help are left unheard, perhaps even by himself. Midway through the trial, K learns that his guilt is already assumed, and the bureaucracy, at its higher echelons, has secret rules and regulations. The identity of the bureaucrats is never revealed and no one has been acquitted. The entire system seems like a black monolith of complex rules and regulations where justice is a concept long-forgotten.

The entire system seems like a black monolith of complex rules and regulations where justice is a concept long-forgotten.

Individually, we will all experience the world of Kafka in our own frightening ways. Some unfortunate people will face it before others. As with everything else in this world, our position in the socio-economic pecking order will decide when. And as always, some will remain immune. As in Kafka's world, the immune decide the rules for the vulnerable.

Aadhaar has now been made mandatory for IT returns, except for some. It is now mandatory to link it to your bank account, failing which, your account will be no longer be accessible. If Aadhaar is not used for three years, it will be deactivated, following which your bank account will not be accessible. Your own money is no longer in your control, and slowly and inevitably, your life will also not be.

The bill has been passed with self-reference to regulations, which have not been added and will be decided by the UIDAI later. You are essentially signing a blank sheet, upon which the terms of imprisonment will be set. Your Aadhaar number can be deactivated if the committee finds it appropriate to do so. After Aadhaar is mandatory, the government will have its citizens tightly in control. The grievance redressal system is basically a call-centre, with no regulations for application status check or guarantee of redressal or remedy. One can already imagine oneself as Josef K, in front of his or her black monolith.

The bill has been passed with self-reference to regulations, which have not been added and will be decided by the UIDAI later. You are essentially signing a blank sheet, upon which the terms of imprisonment will be set.

The novel ends quite abruptly. Josef K is taken into a quarry and executed by two unknown officials. He dies without knowing his offence, or whether he was actually guilty. His guilt, I presume, was his very existence. An ordinary existence that could be persecuted, without much consequences to the monolith. A sacrifice for the benefit of many.

Kafka's ghost has come back to haunt us.

The only possibility of respite is quitting the black monolithic somehow, getting out while we still can. Else, as Aadhaar, with its labyrinth-like apparatus rapidly spreads its roots in our daily lives, we will find ourselves helpless, frustrated, drained and deranged over its many complexities. The labyrinth of Aadhaar will slowly, but inevitably, turn into a catacomb of modern existence.