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

Saturday, January 13, 2018

12726 - Both critics and advocates of Aadhaar are oblivious to one simple fact - The Print

BARUN S. MITRA 12 January, 2018


Biometric data collection camp
The debates over Aadhaar, GM crops, vaccines etc. show an uncanny consensus across the political divide on the role of govt as gatekeeper of science and tech.

I think of myself as a techno-optimist. But all technologies come with their own limitations. Biometrics are no exception.
But the debate over Aadhaar reflects the prevailing social and political polarisation in the country.

The critics of the UID wield it to assault the government, its ideology, politics and policies. The proponents of UID see in it a final solution for most, if not all, the ills of society.

The irony is that both sides seem oblivious to the fact that they are in the same political corner. Both agree that the levers of government ought to be harnessed to impose their particular agenda on hapless citizens. And, so while the debate rages on, the government keeps expanding its hold over citizens.

Efficiency vs equity
Advocates of Aadhaar begin their efficiency argument by pointing to the futility of escaping the embrace of technology in the modern age. What is left unsaid is that technology in the hands of government is very different from those operating in an open and competitive market. Technologies and inventions do not flourish in a controlled environment.

Critics of Aadhaar stress the question of equity, and highlight the frequent reports of deprivations and even deaths, caused by denial of entitlements because of some problem with Aadhaar-based verification. But they ignore the deprivations and deaths due to apathy and callousness of the government, long before the advent of Aadhaar. To them, the legitimacy of the state flows from its ability to provide such services to the people, particularly the poor and the needy.

Both sides avoid questions such as: Should the government be in the business of service delivery or distributing subsidies? Is that really the best way to ensure welfare of citizens? Can corruption be really eliminated by adopting technology, stricter monitoring and enforcement mechanisms, rather than changing the incentive structure that has made rent seeking inevitable?

No magic bullet
The proponents of Aadhaar cloak their defence of technology wrapped up in modernity. But no technology is a magic bullet. When a bulk of the population makes a living by physical labour, fingerprints are inherently unreliable, while access to iris identification is very limited. The problem of Aadhaar is compounded by the issue of unreliable connectivity needed to verify the identity.

Governments in India, and many across the world, have a history of trying to predetermine technology, and failing spectacularly. Decades have been lost in misguided efforts to develop technologies either on the grounds of import substitution, job creation or ‘Make in India’. This has resulted in companies, in the private and public sector, sheltered from competition, perpetuating exploitation of citizens, while profiting from poor quality and high prices.

Despite the poor track record, the debates over Aadhaar, genetically modified crops, vaccines, and others, show an uncanny consensus across the political divide on the role of government as the gatekeeper of science and technology.

Multiple identities
Everyone in India has some kind of identity document. A biometric identifier could be just one more addition to that range of instruments.
But UIDAI is a government monopoly, like a telephone service provider, which after failing to provide basic telephony, is now promising to offer mobile phone services to consumers who have no other choice.

A biometric identifier, like Aadhaar, could compete with others and win the confidence of the people based on its versatility and utility. For instance, the requisite information could be stored in a smart card in possession of each person. A card reader where identity needs to be verified could read the information, and authenticate the biometric signature of the person presenting the card, without storing or worrying about connectivity.
If the connectivity and access issues are resolved, the basic data could be held in servers, where any service provider could instantly verify the identity of a person, without any need to store any of the data locally. These would greatly prevent the possibility of misuse.

Ethics of governance
Notions of a welfare state in pursuit of equity, and distributive justice in pursuit of equality, have been eroding the ethical underpinnings of a limited government.

Aadhaar is only a manifestation of this erosion of governance ethics. Citizens are being asked to be transparent and accountable to government, rather than the other way around.
Some have argued that it is futile to object to the extraordinary transgression of the state on citizens’ rights and privacy. 

Aadhaar, with its multi-dimensional linkages, has the potential to enable the government to monitor and search a citizen’s transactions and interactions without any legal safeguard, such as a warrant.

Constitutional safeguards become critical precisely to stop such blanket transgressions, more so for the poor and disadvantaged who can afford no other forms of protection except the law.
This would be a tragic surrender of constitutional restraints on governments, allowing the state to hold every citizen guilty unless proven innocent.

Citizens are not the property of the government to identify and account for, but are the real sovereigns and the government is their servant.


Barun S. Mitra is founder-director of Liberty Institute, New Delhi