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, November 7, 2017

12319 - ‘BENEFICIARY’ BURSTS BUBBLE OF GOVERNMENT’S RAGS-TO-RICHES ADVERT, REVEALS SORRY PLIGHT - Pune Mirror


By Prachee Kulkarni, Pune Mirror | Updated: Nov 6, 2017, 04.38 PM IST



Raisa Shaikh says her Maha e-Seva Kendra was allotted in 2013 under previous govt's tenure, and she's struggling to make ends meet after Aadhaar agency withdrawal; officials run helter-skelter to gather video proof from other beneficiaries to avoid further embarrassment

The state government's bids at self promotion to commemorate three years in power are embarrassingly backfiring, one after another. Following the Bhivari farmer faux pas, another advertisement, featuring Kondhwa resident Raisa Shaikh, offers a ragsto- riches story of how her life turned around after being allotted a Maha e-Seva Kendra agency. It now transpires that she has been running the agency since 2013, which was during the previous government's tenure. And, far from benefiting, she is actually struggling to make ends meet as her Aadhaar agency was abruptly withdrawn two months ago.

To cover up the mess, government officials are now visiting every beneficiary to get their statements recorded on camera, in case someone raises questions. Describing her plight, Shaikh said, "We used to earn almost Rs 1,000 per day. To ensure that more work is done in the stipulated time, we had employed a few people. But two months ago, we were suddenly told that the nodal agency has changed and so we have to stop the work.

The earlier agency did not even clear the dues. We had to ask our employees to quit, as even paying rent for the place was becoming a burden. Right now, earning just Rs 300-400 has become a tall order."

So, she was obviously surprised when government agencies approached her in the beginning of November to take her photographs and share her 'success story'. "They came and said they wanted to tell my story to the people of the country in order to inspire them. I tried telling them what the reality was and how dismal a condition I was in. I also told them that my agency had been approved in 2013, and not in the current government's tenure. But they ignored all that and clicked my pictures anyway. You can see what they have printed now," Shaikh told Mirror.

She had started off as a data entry operator in 2012 and while she was at it, she came to know about the e-Seva Kendra project. She promptly applied for an agency and the approval was given in 2013. Her first e-Seva Kendra started in the same year near her Gultekdi home. Meanwhile, the Aadhaar project was launched and she completed her training to buy another place in Kondhwa and set up an Aadhaar enrolment centre. She was allotted an area in which she was supposed to visit schools and get students enrolled. She and her husband even recruited a few employees for the project. Everything was going well for them, till her Aadhaar enrolment agency was suddenly withdrawn two months ago.

Her investment for the Aadhaar centre also proved futile, making a huge dent in her savings. "As work kept increasing, we bought two Aadhaar scanning machines, each worth Rs 1.5 lakh, on our own. We thought the government agencies will give us the approval for this. But the registration was never done. Now they have withdrawn our agency. While we are still working for other government projects, those are not earning us sufficient money," she rued.

Husband Raj Shaikh added, "We have supported and worked for every government scheme. But we feel that this government is trying to focus more on publicity. They say that ours is a success story. But the reality is that out of the Rs 35 allotted for every Aadhaar enrolment, we only get Rs 15. If they had spent all this money for the benefit of people, instead of on adverts, even we would have had a success story."



Twice bitten, the state government is now busy designing its own defence. Officials from the information and public relations department are now running from pillar to post to collect proofs of their claims. They visited the Shaikhs' home and got a video shot on their camera. They have also produced a certificate dated September 6, 2016, claiming that the agency was given to them on that date last year.

Mohan Rathod, deputy director of the district information office, admitted to have sent officials to visit Shaikh's home on Sunday. When Mirror queried about the need to shoot videos even after a photoshoot for the advert was done earlier, he clarified, "We are also producing videos of these stories for documentation. So we shot her version on camera."

Shaikh, however, maintained that while the certificate she received was dated in 2016, her centre had actually started in 2013. But why was her Aadhaar agency withdrawn? Government officials from the tehsildar office contended, "Normally, whenever there are irregularities in the process, we write to Mahaonline — the government agency which handles the e-Seva Kendra — asking them to take cognisance. But in this case, we will have to inquire as we do not have any records. They must have taken the decision for some reason."


Dhananjay Munde, Opposition leader at the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, retorted, "The government is running this campaign to celebrate three years in power. But, what can be worse than the fact that even after three long years, they are not able to find true beneficiaries of their projects." But education and cultural affairs minister Vinod Tawde assured that he will inquire into the matter. "I came to know about the issue only on Sunday. This entire campaign was ideated and run by the information and public relations department. I will have to inquire with them and figure out if anything has gone wrong."