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, March 17, 2018

12989 - Aadhaar hearing: Section 7 exception in Supreme Court’s interim order greatly affects people’s constitutional rights - First Post

Aadhaar hearing: Section 7 exception in Supreme Court’s interim order greatly affects people’s constitutional rights

India Asheeta Regidi Mar 14, 2018 14:28:08 IST

The Supreme Court, in yesterday’s hearings, issued interim orders extending the deadlines for Aadhaar based linking until the disposal of the case. However, it drew an exception for the deadlines for subsidies, benefits, etc. under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act. Thus, for receiving these subsidies, etc. people will have to acquire an Aadhaar card before 31 March, 2018. The result is that for a large and very vulnerable section of society, Aadhaar has been made mandatory.

This has a significant impact on their constitutional rights, in particular, their right to life and liberty, even before the Supreme Court has passed its final verdict on the matter.

Representational image. AFP
The Section 7 exception
Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act deals with the production of an Aadhaar number/ enrolment ID, or undergoing Aadhaar based authentication to receive benefits, subsidies, etc. under Section 7. This has led to several notifications being issued under Section 7, such as those for the beneficiaries of the mid-day meal schemes, the Atal Pension Yojana or for the Cash Transfer of Food Subsidy under the National Food Security Act. These include several services which are essential for the survival of the very vulnerable sections of society, whether it is the mid-day meals for school children, pensions for the old, food subsidies for the poor, stipends for teachers, scholarships for Adivasis, and so on.
Most of these notifications contain the following, standard instructions:
i) Eligible beneficiaries should furnish proof of Aadhaar / undergo Aadhaar authentication.
ii) Those who have not yet enrolled for Aadhaar are to enroll for Aadhaar by the prescribed deadlines.
iii) Arrangements shall be made for enrolling in Aadhaar.
The impact of the interim order (summarised at the end of this article) is that the last prescribed deadline for enrolling in Aadhaar for receipt of these subsidies, which was 31 March, 2018, will not be extended. After this date, people who don’t have an Aadhaar card will not be able to avail of their benefits or subsidies.
Section 7 is, in effect, upheld
The result of this is that the Supreme Court has, in effect, upheld the validity of Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, to the extent that it mandates the use of Aadhaar for receipt of subsidies and benefits. Even though this is an interim order and not a final verdict, the repeated extension of deadlines through various interim orders was done in order to avoid a fait accompli. This purpose will be defeated if a large section of society is forced to adhere to these notifications before the outcome of the case.
Section 7 could violate numerous key constitutional rights
The importance of waiting for the outcome of the case before mandating Aadhaar is in view of the numerous violations of constitutional rights that could be happening due to Aadhaar. The validity of Section 7, in particular, is a very crucial issue being debated in the Aadhaar case.
The most obvious argument is on the exclusion caused as a result of mandatory Aadhaar. This is first, due to the probabilistic and inaccurate nature of biometric authentication, and second, because people cannot provide an alternate identity document under this Section. The Supreme Court itself had observed that this exclusion could be a violation of the right to equality under the Constitution. The violation of the right to life and liberty due to this exclusion is an even more crucial issue.
The large-scale violation of privacy, be it through the collection of biometrics or of metadata, is yet another issue. The effect on a person’s constitutional right to dignity is also an issue, in terms of treating an entire population to be impersonators merely due to their lack of an Aadhaar card or the failure to successfully authenticate via Aadhaar.


Schoolgirls collect their free mid-day meal, distributed by a government-run primary school, in New Delhi. Image: Reuters


The order is a huge disappointment for those facing issues with Aadhaar
Each of these arguments in effect fails if, by 31 March, a large number of people are forced to rely on Aadhaar, regardless of whether or not it violates their constitutional rights (since the Supreme Court is yet to rule on this).
The current order, thus, comes as a huge disappointment to those hoping for relief from their issues with Aadhaar. For those facing authentication and other issues with Aadhaar, the only option will be to rely on the UIDAI’s exception handling mechanisms. Given the extent of exclusion that is being reported, it is unclear to what extent these mechanisms have actually been implemented or are effective in solving people’s issues.
In addition, it is unclear if the exception handling mechanisms accommodate people who choose not to have Aadhaar. Until the Supreme Court rules on this, the people do have a right to choose not to enroll for Aadhaar. The current order, however, in effect takes away this right for a large section of society.

Linking under these Sections
Note that many of these notifications under Section 7 do not deal with linking, meaning that their cards or accounts pertaining to the schemes will not be invalidated. Their right to obtain benefits, however, will definitely be affected.
Where notifications have been issued under Section 7 specifically for such linking, the accounts will be invalidated as well. Aadhaar linking has been prescribed for certain schemes such as MGNREGA and for PRAN cards. However, it is unclear under which law these are prescribed and subject to what deadlines. Where they are prescribed under Section 7, however, these accounts risk being invalidated after 31 March. This is yet another risk to constitutional rights that a large section of people can face before the pronouncement of the final verdict.

The Supreme Court should reconsider its order
There are serious questions of privacy breaches as well as violation of constitutional rights to be decided in this case. It was taking the seriousness of these questions into account that the 2015 order of the Supreme Court, the first interim order, had restricted Aadhaar to six specified schemes only. It is hoped that the Supreme Court will reconsider the exception it has drawn out for subsidies, etc., under Section 7. The use of a system which (possibly) violates people’s constitutional rights should not be made mandatory before the Court decides on its constitutionality.

A man goes through the process of eye scanning for Unique Identification (UID) database system. Reuters

Summary of the SC’s interim order
The Supreme Court’s order has essentially extended the interim order of 15 December, 2017 until the disposal of the case and the pronouncement of the final judgment. The effect of the Supreme Court’s order is that the deadlines for Aadhaar linkages have been so extended:
i) For all schemes of Central and State government ministries or departments (with the exception of those under Section 7, discussed above).
ii) For all existing bank accounts.
iii) For new bank accounts: Linking can be completed by the extended deadline, but either Aadhaar card or proof of enrolment with Aadhaar must mandatorily be furnished with the application for the new account.
iv) For e-KYC for mobile phone linkages.
v) For linking with PAN: Aadhaar-PAN linkages continue to be governed by the Binoy Viswam judgment, i.e., those who do not have an Aadhaar need not link their PAN cards, but those who do need to link it by the extended deadline.
In addition, the Supreme Court issued two new directions:
vi) This order will also govern the Passport (1st Amendment) Rules, 2018. These rules say that an Aadhaar card must be produced to apply for a tatkal passport. Now, as per the Supreme Court’s order, an Aadhaar card will not be required for applying for a tatkal passport until the disposal of this case. The rules do not mention Aadhaar linking, nor do they contain any deadline for acquiring an Aadhaar number.
vii) For schemes for which notifications have been issued under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, whether for Aadhaar based authentication for receipt of the scheme or for Aadhaar linking or seeding, the deadline of 31 March for enrolling in Aadhaar has been retained. Persons failing to provide an Aadhaar number/ enrolment number will not be entitled to receive benefits after 31 March.

The author is lawyer and author specialising in technology laws. She is also a certified privacy professional.
Read our past coverage of the on-going Aadhaar Supreme court hearing:


Published Date: Mar 14, 2018 14:23 PM | Updated Date: Mar 14, 2018 14:28 PM