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, May 14, 2018

13534 - Modi promised transparency, but delivered secrecy - National Herald


https://www.nationalheraldindia.com/inclusion/modi-promised-transparency-but-delivered-secrecy


Modi promised transparency, but delivered secrecy

ASHLIN MATHEWPublished: May 14th 2018, 07.58 AM
593
Engagements


                               Photo Courtesy: CIC

A file photo of PM Narendra Modi is speaking at the inauguration of 10th Annual Convention-2015 of the Central Information Commission. He has skipped attending the Convention since

For a government which kept saying UPA’s failure was service delivery, they have done nothing. Even laws which were passed by UPA have not been operationalised; not a single Lokpal has been appointed

In the run up to the 2014 elections, PM Modi had promised a truly representative, transparent and sensitive government, which would fight corruption. Most activists had hoped that the government would proactively disclose details. But that hasn’t happened either.

“What was expected was at least more information would be made available to people, but what we are finding is, on the contrary, people are finding it difficult to access information on PM’s foreign travels.

“When the PM stated on the floor of the House that because of Aadhaar, the government has been able to weed our 4 crore bogus ration cards, leading to a saving of ₹14,000 crore, we started looking if there was any data to back that statement up. And there was no such data,” says Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convenor of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information and a founding member of Satark Nagrik Sangathan. She then filed an RTI application with the PMO only to be informed that there was no such data available with them. Her application was then forwarded to the Food Ministry, which also could not provide any matching data. Eventually the data that Bhardwaj got did not match with the data that the states provided her under the RTI Law. Eventually, the PMO changed the statement in the Parliament.

“Then what is withheld is basic information on the Prime Minister’s travels. Information on demonetisation, black money recovered and even NPAs is not forthcoming,” points out Bhardwaj.

One of the demands from the RTI activists has been an effective grievance redressal law. The Grievance Redressal Bill was introduced in the Parliament by the UPA government and it went to a Parliament Standing Committee, which gave excellent suggestions. But, before it could be passed by the Parliament, the Lok Sabha was dissolved and at that time Arun Jaitley and Ravi Shankar Prasad had stated that if they win, they would reintroduce it. But, they haven’t re-introduced it till date.

“For a government which kept saying that UPA’s main failure was service delivery, this government has done nothing. Even the laws which were passed by the UPA have not been operationalised; not a single Lokpal has been appointed. The Whistle Blower’s Protection Law hasn’t been operationalised either,” says Bhardwaj with a sigh.

Rural-Urban RTI Divide

A study was conducted in 2014 by NCPRI on who files RTI applications and what do they use it for. The study found that the RTI Law was being used extensively by the poor and the marginalised in both rural and urban areas. Almost 100 percent of the applicants from rural India were below the poverty line and 50 percent in urban areas were below poverty line. “In fact, the urban use of the RTI Act is much less than rural use. There is not enough use by middle class and upper middle class. They could use it much more. What the poor and marginalised use it for is when they are denied their basic rights and entitlements – their rations, pensions, minimum wages under MNREGA.

With the urban middle class, perhaps one could say that the use has not been as much as it should have been. It could be because they have private alternatives – if their water supply is not working, then they can afford to rely on private supply. Similarly, they are not so dependent on pensions and other government services. They could use it for more government accountability,” says Bhardwaj.

Dilution of RTI Act

According to reports in the media, the government has drafted a Bill to amend the RTI Act, in complete contravention of the pre-legislative consultation policy. The government hopes to introduce it during the Monsoon Session of Parliament. “The proposed amendments, which have not been made public, reportedly dilute the law by downgrading the status of information commissioners, the watchdogs of the transparency legislation,” stated RTI activist Amrita Johri in an article.

According to these reports, the amendment states that salaries and allowances of information commissioners will no longer be equivalent to those of a Supreme Court judge. The Central government and state governments will decide salaries of information commissioners.“The rationale provided is that treating Information Commissioners on par with functionaries of the Election Commission is incorrect, as the latter is a constitutional body while Information Commissions are statutory bodies,” stated Johri.

The salaries of Information Commissioners are similar to the Election Commissioners, which in turn are pegged at the level of a Supreme Court judge.“The status conferred on commissioners is to empower them to carry out their functions autonomously and direct even the highest offices to comply with the provisions of the law. We have now heard that state and Central governments will fix the salaries of the Information Commissioners.

Allowing governments to decide salaries of information commissioners is nothing but an attempt to undermine their independence,” pointed out Bhardwaj. In another explanation, the government stated that former bureaucrats, who retired at the level of an Additional Secretary, get elevated to the level of a Supreme Court judge when they are appointed as Information Commissioners. But, the RTI law states that Commissioners should be persons of eminence in public life with wide knowledge and experience from diverse backgrounds – law, science and technology, social service, management, journalism, mass media, administration and governance.

Despite this, almost 84 per cent of the Chief Information Commissioners and 60 per cent of Information Commissioners have been retired bureaucrats. Also, ever since the Information Commissions have been constituted, only 24 per cent of the commissioners have been women.


(Please read the first part of the article here. The write-up first appeared in NH on Sunday)



How is the Modi govt botching up the RTI Act?
ASHLIN MATHEWUpdated: May 13th 2018, 08.55 AM
652
Engagements




Picture courtesy: Social media

Representative image

“If anyone wants to run a government in an unaccountable manner, they have to first destroy institutions of accountability,” says RTI activist Anjali Bhardwaj.


The finance ministry stated in Parliament this year that it would not disclose details of corporate loans written off to the tune of ₹2.4 lakh crore by public sector banks

• The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), in response to a Right to Information (RTI) applications, stated it would not reveal details of PM’s foreign travels as it violated his privacy.

• Applications requesting details on demonetisation are also regularly rejected, so are questions on Swachh Bharat.

In states such as Andhra Pradesh, tribals living in Vishakhapatnam are denied land record details. Queries regarding income tax (IT) returns of the former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa after her conviction were rejected as well. In Delhi, applications requesting caste certificate details have been sent back.

But undeterred by such rejections, around 60-80 lakh RTI applications are still filed every year in India. Indeed, ever since the NDA government came to power in 2014, there has been a systematic attempt to weaken the Act and render it ineffective.

Posts of commissioners, including that of the Chief Information Commissioner (CIC), were lying vacant in several states leading to a backlog of applications. The Centre has also been attempting to dilute the RTI Act.

According to a report released by Satark Nagrik Sangathan (SNS) and the Centre for Equity Studies (CES) for the period January 2016 till October 2017, there were four commissions which were not functional for varying lengths of time — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, West Bengal and Sikkim. In the absence of functional commissions, information seekers have had no reprieve under the RTI Act if they are unable to access information as per the provisions of the law.




Vacancies in Information Commissions

Additionally, three states do not have a Chief Information Commissioner. The State Information Commission of Nagaland has been without a Chief Information Commissioner since September 2017; the Gujarat Chief Information Commissioner retired in January 2018 and the position is currently vacant.

The Chief Information Commissioner of Maharashtra retired in April 2017. One of the information commissioners has taken up additional charge of the chief commissioner, although there is no such explicit provision under the RTI Act, 2005. The government is yet to appoint a new chief.

Four months after the NDA government came into power, in August 2014, the Chief Information Officer of the CIC retired. It was a routine retirement; the government already knew that he was about to retire, but they refused to make an appointment to that position.

“Despite all of us writing to the Prime Minister and requesting for the appointment to be made, they refused to make any appointment. Finally, citizens had to approach courts. It was only when the matter was heard in the Delhi High Court that a chief was appointed. But, by then 10 months had passed. In the meantime, the financial autonomy of the CIC and the functioning suffered,” points out Anjali Bhardwaj, co-convenor of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information and a
founding member of Satark Nagrik Sangathan.

The Chief Information Commissioner looks at all the important cases dealing with public authority, including the Prime Minister’s Office. So, if the PMO or the Defence secretary did not part with information, applicants could not get their case heard at the CIC.

The Prime Minister would normally attend the annual Information Convention hosted by the CIC. But in 2014 there was no convention organised because there was no chief. After the chief was appointed, the Convention was organised in 2015 after much delay but Prime Minister Narendra Modi did not attend. In 2016 again, he did not attend the RTI Convention and in 2017, the commission refused to hold a Convention at all, but then the NCPRI held a convention in Bhubaneswar.

“Whatever one might say about former Prime Miniter Manmohan Singh’s address at these RTI Conventions, including a statement that ‘RTI was being used frivolously’, but at least when the PM comes, people get to know that the government is serious about Right to Information,” pointed out an RTI worker.

The Selection Committee of the CIC is chaired by the PM and comprises a minister of the Union Government and the leader of the Opposition. And now there are four vacancies at the CIC and this year, in 2018, four more Commissioners will retire — Yashovardhan Azad, Sridhar Acharyulu, Amitava Bhattacharya and the chief RK Mathur. Mathur had said that he had communicated to the government about the vacancies, but he hadn’t got any response regarding filling up these vacancies.

“So, the bottleneck is the PM not calling meetings and making the necessary appointments,” said Anjali Bhardwaj.

With so many vacancies, the pendency of the cases has been increasing. “Currently, there is a backlog of about 25,000 cases in the CIC and this is after the CIC is returning a number of appeals. And that is a problem. Under the RTI Law, if the appeal is not properly written, they can return these appeals. But, given the background of the people who file these RTI applications, it is unfair to send back these appeals and complaints,” says Bhardwaj.

“If it is a person requesting for their old-age pension and living in a slum, if you send back their complaint, they will never be able to come back. This never used to happen before 2015. We have now approached the Supreme Court and the matter is likely to be listed soon. But, the problem is why should citizens have to go to court every time for routine appointments,” she wonders.

The experience in states

The Kerala Information Commission has been functioning with a single commissioner since 2016. As of October 31, 2017 nearly 14,000 appeals and complaints were pending with the commission. In 2016, the High Court of Kerala set aside the appointment of five information commissioners stating that the selection process was flawed.

The court noted that no criteria had been laid out for short –listing candidates, and the entire selection process was vitiated. Of the persons chosen, one was a primary school teacher, another a lawyer in the district court and the third a LIC Development Officer.

The Odisha SIC is functioning with three commissioners despite having a pendency of more than 10,000 appeals and complaints as of October 31, 2017.

The report states that around 2,76,405 appeals and complaints were registered, and 2,14,809 were disposed, between January 1, 2016, and October 31, 2017, by 23 information commissions. The information commissions of Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu did not provide information under the RTI Act regarding the number of appeals and complaints dealt with by the ICs.

Among other problems, non-functional ICs result in a huge backlog of appeals and complaints and the consequent long delays, as is evident in the case of the West Bengal and Kerala SICs, where the waiting time is estimated to be 43 years and 6.5 years respectively.

It was also found, during the survey, that the CIC and the SICs of Gujarat, Assam and Uttarakhand returned a large number of appeals/complaint, without passing any order.

Vacancies are often a result of the apathy and inefficiency of state governments, with the process of appointments not being initiated in time, leading to delays in filling up vacancies. “There is also a strong apprehension that information commissions are purposely deprived of commissioners by governments to scuttle the effective functioning of the RTI Act. The non-functioning of information commissions amounts to a violation of peoples’ right to information, as ICs are the final adjudicators under the RTI law,” said Bhardwaj.

Lack of Accountability

What really characterises this government is a statement by Minister of State for Home Affairs, Kiren Rijiju in 2016. When questions were being asked about the circumstances in which the Madhya Pradesh police had shot dead eight undertrials who had escaped from Bhopal Central Jail, Rijiju said that people should stop asking questions, raising doubt, questioning the authorities and the police.

“This kind of signals the attitude of the government as we have many in the PMOs and other offices who say they are frustrated with the RTI Applications,” laments Bhardwaj.

This is fundamentally the problem RTI activists have had with the current government. “They want to systematically attack all institutions of accountability and transparency. If anyone wants to run a government in an unaccountable manner, they have to first destroy institutions of accountability. It is really in this context that we are looking at the RTI Law,” elaborates Bhardwaj.

Information Commissions (ICs) under the Indian RTI Act are independent, have a high stature, have extensive powers and are the final appellate authority under the law. The health of the RTI regime primarily depends on how effective and pro-active these commissions are.


(The second part of this article will be carried next week. The write-up first appeared in NH on Sunday).