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

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

11628 - Aadhaar Articles dated 21st July 2017



NDTV
The hearing on the right to privacy began yesterday as a group of petitioners brought the case to protest against the government's Aadhaar ...



Inc42 Media
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched a mobile app for Aadhaar card users called mAadhaar. The app will allow users to ...



The Indian Express
The debate around Aadhaar and right to privacy has intensified over the past few days. A nine-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court is ...






Moneycontrol.com
At a time when the country is gripped with a national debate on privacy in the, light of Aadhaar 'data leaks', Prime Venture Partners cofounder Sanjay ...






Livemint
It is a violation under Aadhaar Act to share or leak Aadhaar numbers, and people can be held criminally liable under the Act. Photo: Priyanka ...






Times of India
Colva: With Aadhaar gaining importance not only as an identity proof and a document necessary to avail government social security schemes but also ...






MediaNama.com
UIDAI has launched a mobile app called mAadhaar that will allow users to carry their Aadhaar profile on the phone for availing Aadhaar-based ...






FactorDaily
As India rolls out technology-based systems like Aadhaar, policymakers and technologists must also focus on the ethics of data science and bring real ...






Oneindia
Are you getting messages from the banks and telecom companies, telling you that it is now mandatory to link Aadhaar number with the bank accounts ...






Daily News & Analysis
To enroll around 60 lakh people in Maharashtra who are outside the Aadhaar net, the state government is restructuring its enrolment strategy to ...






India Today
A directive from the Department of Telecommunications asking telecom companies to re-verify their subscribers using the Aadhaar-based e-KYC was ...






Financial Express
From an income tax return filing perspective, there seem to be challenges in determining citizens eligible for Aadhaar and those who are excluded ...






One World Identity
Major service providers including Uber and Airbnb are looking to tap into India's national identity database, known as Aadhaar, in order to verify that ...






The Tribune
Residents of Phagwara can get their Aadhaar cards prepared at Sewa Kendras of Hadiabad and Baba Gadhia. The residents of Goraya have to go to ...






Scroll.in
Petitioners Soli Sorabjee, Shyam Divan, Gopal Subramaniam and Arvind Datar concluded their arguments in the Aadhaar hearing in the Supreme ...






Greater Kashmir
According to locals around 30% population of the district has been left out despite the union government making Aadhaar cards mandatory for various ...






The Hans India
Rajamahendravaram: Not only human beings, the milch cattle will also get 12-digit unique identity number (Aadhaar number) across the state.