Part 1: On September 5, 2023, a group of citizens convened online to discuss the issue of Aadhaar imposition and overreach in the context of seeding Aadhaar numbers with NPR records. This discussion was a continuation of similar sessions in which experts and activists like Usha Ramanathan and Harsh Mander had also participated. Economist, author, and professor Jean Dreze, and[Read More…]
India has been turned into a full-scale surveillance state with the masses under the watchful eye of the government, vulnerable and oblivious to being tracked, profiled, recorded, and registered at every point of their day and entire lifetimes. Invasive technologies like facial recognition are being cavalierly used in public spaces and universities, political and institutional opposition is being stymied through[Read More…]
To Shri G C Murmu CAG Dear Shri Murmu, Subject:- Proliferation of fake Aadhaar Cards and false Jandhan bank accounts pose a serious threat to proper use of the Centre’s expenditure under Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs) Please refer to my letter dated 7-10-2022 on the subject (https://countercurrents.org/2022/10/centrally-sponsored-schemes-violate-the-spirit-of-federalism-also-wastes-public-resources/?swcfpc=1), with special reference to two Centrally Sponsored Schemes (CSSs), PM Fasal Bhima Yojana (PMFBY)[Read More…]
The Indian government has proposed changes the regulations around Aadhaar to allow private entities to conduct Aadhaar-based verification with its permission. On April 20, 2023, the government amended the Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020. The purposes for Aadhaar authentication listed in sub-rule (1) of Rule 3 have been expanded to include a new clause:[Read More…]
To Shri Rajiv Kumar Chief Election Commissioner Election Commission of India (ECI) Shri A C Pandey Election Commissioner Election Commission of India (ECI) Shri Arun Goel Election Commissioner Election Commission of India (ECI) Dear S/Shri Rajiv Kumar/ Pandey/ Goel, In my earlier letter dated 19-4-2023 (https://countercurrents.org/2023/04/doubts-about-the-ecis-preparedness-to-conduct-2024-general-elections-transparently-and-in-compliance-with-section-128-of-the-rpa1951/), I expressed doubts about the ECI being ready for conducting 2024 elections in[Read More…]
The Delhi, Bengaluru, and Varanasi airports have recently begun the ‘DigiYatra’ service. It is a facial recognition technology (FRT)-based passenger boarding system verified by Aadhar details. Recent news also says that the Western Railways’ use of its FRT-based surveillance system has reduced crime on its routes and stations. Earlier this week, Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said that Mumbai[Read More…]
Justice Krishna Iyer said that “the project Aadhaar should not be implemented for it amounts to an assault on privacy and basic rights of individuals and is suited only for fascist nations.” Famous Supreme Court Judge V R Krishna Iyer on November 3, 2011 released the first critique book titled “AADHAAR; How a Nation is Deceived,” authored by P B[Read More…]
The successive governments have depended heavily on technology to deal with service delivery and leakages and the use of technology has almost become indispensible in the modern day governance approaches. As a result one can observe the mobile apps, websites, MIS data being the popular talking points among the top officials and technology has become a one stop solution to[Read More…]
More than six years after the first legal challenge to the Unique Identification project were filed in court, today the Supreme Court ruled on the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar project. While four judges wrote upholding the validity of the Aadhaar project, one judge ruled that the Aadhaar project is unconstitutional and the database must be deleted. The Aadhaar Act[Read More…]
Supreme Court Judgement on Aadhaar was expected on these lines too though the dissenting judgement of Justice D Y Chandrchud will definitely go down in the history of modern India a valiant stand of judiciary and will be quoted more than the majority judgement in future, by the legal experts, judges, activists and other who believe in freedom of human[Read More…]
India’s Aadhar card ,World’s largest biometric database, was declared constitutional by Supreme Court of India, in a 4-1 verdict on 27 petitions that challenged the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar card. Although the court cleared the use of Aadhaar for access to welfare schemes, struck down attempts to make it mandatory for bank accounts, mobile phone connections and school admissions.[Read More…]
Delhi (15 March): Today people from 14 states testified about their situation of hunger and unemployment in a national public hearing at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, organised by the Right to Food Campaign. These testimonies were heard by a panel comprising of activists, journalists, lawyers, legislators, scholars and trade union leaders. Denial of ration to eligible households The hearing began[Read More…]
Our constitution entitles every citizen, of this great democracy, with meticulously detailed rights which forms the broad strokes that enables one to enjoy the nuances of the method of democracy. As time evolves the broad spectrum offered by these rights starts to branch out into multiple rights of their own drawing existence from the predecessor. One such right is the[Read More…]
Mitchell Baker, Executive chairwomen of Mozilla published an open letter responding to the Srikrishna Committee. Mitchell is asking for indian community members and friends of Mozilla to support the demands by cosigning this letter. In 2017, the Government of India set up a committee headed by Justice Srikrishna to examine a data protection framework and draft India’s first comprehensive data[Read More…]
The planned Joint Citizens Protest against world biggest Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12 –digit biometric Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar numbers happened at the Parliament Street from 3 pm onwards on12th of January, 2018. More such protests are planned across the districts and cities in the country. Several speakers at the protest site demanded immediate stoppage of the biometric UID/Aadhaar number database project. [Read More…]
A lot has been discussed about ‘Aadhar’ and its impact on common people. Economists, political and social scientists and many other academicians have elaborately analysed the futility of the project. One more angle of introspecting aadhar is the impact on disabled persons, especially those who have problems with their fingers or eyes or both. While the poor are facing[Read More…]
In perhaps the biggest identity data breach in history, India’s entire Aadhaar data has been breached by fraudsters and over one billion Aadhaar details that includes name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email are on sail for just Rs 500. Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) is the biggest collection of identities[Read More…]
Etwariya Devi, a 67-year-old widow, died of hunger and exhaustion on 25 December in Sonpurwa village of Majhiaon block of Garhwa district (Jharkhand). She lived with her son Ghura Vishwakarma, daughter-in-law Usha Devi and their three children in a dilapidated kutcha house. The family has a hand-to-mouth existence and is routinely unable to access adequate nutrition. Surviving the day on[Read More…]
Son of Kargil martyr in Haryana’s Sonipat accused that he lost his mother after she was denied treatment in a hospital due to an unavailability of the Aadhaar card. Wife of a Kargil martyr dies at a hospital in Haryana's Sonipat, claims son; says "I brought my mother in a serious condition to the hospital. They asked me to get[Read More…]
Campaigners have set up an an easy to use website that allows you to automatically petitition your MP, Banks, Mobile phone companies and other service providers like MGNREGA, EPF etc against the coercive attempt to link Aaadhar number. The website https://www.speakforme.in has well written letters, with citations, reasonings and arguments. With a few clicks you can send these letters to[Read More…]
Widow dies of starvation in Garhwa after both food ration and pension are denied to her due to Aadhaar-related problems A 64-year old widow, Premani Kunwar, died of hunger and exhaustion on 1 December in Danda Block of Garhwa district (Jharkhand). Contrary to some media reports, there was no money in Premani’s bank account when she died. Two months earlier,[Read More…]
Shakina Ashfaq, 50, is the latest life claimed by the AADHAR, the name given to the 12-digit unique identification (UID) number by the government of India. The reports suggest that she died of hunger. The authorities, as is unsaid standard operating procedure, claim that preliminary inquiries suggest that she didn’t die of hunger, she rather died of some illness.[Read More…]
A Woman in Bareilly in the state of Uttar Pradesh of India, died due to starvation as she was denied food ration since it was not linked to her Aadhaar card. ANI reported her husband was refused ration as ration shop owner allegedly demanded the woman be present for bio-metric fingerprint verification. She was unwell for past 5 days. The[Read More…]
Santoshi Kumari The recent hunger deaths of Santoshi Kumari in Simdega, Vaidnath Ravidas in Dhanbad and Ruplal Marandi in Deoghar district of Jharkhand have exposed the violation of the mere right to life being caused by the mandatory requirement of linking Aadhaar with ration cards and the poor implementation of the National Food Security Act (NFSA) in the state. These[Read More…]
Right to Food Campaign activists of Jharkhand have written an open letter to Ajay Bhushan Pandey CEO, Unique Identification Authority of India on the cancellation of Ration Cards because they were not linked to Aadhaar cards. Large numbers of ration cards were recently cancelled in Jharkhand because they had not been linked with Aadhaar. To Ajay Bhushan Pandey CEO, Unique Identification Authority of[Read More…]
Santoshi Kumari In August 2017, in KS Puttuswamy v Union of India[1], commonly known as Privacy judgment, the nine judges bench of the Supreme Court unanimously in its landmark verdict established the fundamental right to privacy and transformed the civil rights jurisprudence.The decision strengthened the claims of citizens to the individual right to privacy, personal autonomy and the bodily[Read More…]
In the recent times, we have seen an overdrive of threatening to freeze existing bank accounts unless the customers link to Aadhaar. They are also refusing to open new bank accounts without Aadhaar, citing GSR 538(E), the amendment to the Prevention of Money-laundering (Maintenance of Records) Rules, 2005 under the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 (15 of 2003)(PMLA), on June[Read More…]
आधार ही क्या अब जीवन का अधार है
आधार ही से क्या अब जीवन का संचार है
बन्द किवाड़ो के पिछे से सुनाई पड़ती है सिसकती आहें
In perhaps the first Aadhaar linked starvation death 11 year old girl Santoshi Kumari died at her village, Karimati, in Jharkhand since her family’s ration card was not linked to Aadhaar. Santoshi had not eaten for eight days before her death on September 28, according to a Scroll.in report; she was unable to avail of the mid-day meal she usually[Read More…]
I linked my Aadhaar to my PAN card.
Then I linked my PAN card to my bank account.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my bank account.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my tax return.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my LPG gas connection.
Then I linked my Aadhaar to my mobile phone.
Then the Government issued a decree ordering
that all persons must link their Aadhaar to their heartbeat
within three months or face discontinuation of the heartbeat.
Aadhaar, India’s ambitious biometric ID project, was portrayed as one that would enhance India’s welfare efforts by promoting inclusion and reducing corruption. From being a voluntary ID, it has become de facto compulsory for most welfare programmes such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and the Public Distribution System (PDS). Despite early warnings of its limited role[Read More…]
The word “private” has the meanings: (1) belonging to a particular person (his/her own body or his/her own property), (2) not sharing thoughts or feelings with others, and (3) not connected with a person’s work or official role. From this adjective, we obtain the abstract noun “privacy”, which means “a state in which one is not watched or disturbed by[Read More…]
Predictably enough, the recent Supreme Court order affirming that privacy is a fundamental right sent Aadhaar’s public-relations machine into damage control mode. After denying the right to privacy for years, the government promptly changed gear and welcomed the judgment. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), suddenly asserted, “The Aadhaar Act is based on the premise that privacy is[Read More…]
(Aadhar, the new ID card which is virtual indexing of the entire population, is reminiscent of George Orwell’s famous novel 1984!) One of the most important aspects of a totalitarian or a fascist regime is indexing of the population so as to keep watch over their activities. It is virtually practical implementation of the famous slogan in 1984, the “Big[Read More…]
As per the order of Hon’ble Supreme Court’s 5-Judge Bench dated 15 October 2015, Aadhaar cannot be made mandatory for the purposes of linking to mobile phones. This has been reiterated by the Hon’ble Court on 9th June and 27th June, 2017.
The Attorney General has argued that citizens do not have the fundamental right to privacy. That the citizen should be open to scrutiny by the government other bodies of authority for ‘national interests’. That their body or their data is not a right of their own. The AG states that this is because the right to privacy is an[Read More…]
Microsoft’s Bill Gates is one of the richest and most influential people on earth. He announced in 2015 that his Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation was aiming at achieving full digitalization of the payment systems of India and other populous developing countries by 2018. This “financial inclusion” program for India dates back to well before Narendra Modi came to power. It was elevated[Read More…]
The Italian Kautalya, Niccolo Machiavelli, is supposed to have said that ‘Politics is the art of deception’ (or maybe it was the Indian Machiavelli, Kautilya, himself). Whoever it was, he has an able student in the Indian prime minister (PM) – a prestidigitator par excellence. Now, a good prestidigitator is one who will distract you with some dazzling spectacle[Read More…]
Ransomware worm WannaCry struck at and crippled UK’s National Health Scheme, causing a national emergency of sorts. The operations systems of British Airways, Lufthansa and Air France were targets of cyber attack on passenger handling, causing economic loss but fortunately no accident. All this is cause for concern in India, because of India’s huge vulnerability to cyber attack. Now[Read More…]
In India, on past one month there are many news reports on various #AadhaarLeaks from Aadhaar seeded Govt services. As of now combined number of Aadhaar numbers leaked will cross 200 million , considering various leaks from Employment Guarantee, minor /student scholarship portal leaks, Social assistance schemes, and various pension schemes. Yesterday I was closely following Attorney General of India’s arguments[Read More…]
Political corruption is a manipulation of policies, institutions and rules of procedure in the allocation of resources and financing by political decision makers, who abuse their position to sustain their power, status and wealth. www.transparency.org It was around midnight, and the family was having their late, last supper. As the clock struck twelve, they heard the dreaded midnight knock![Read More…]
Raising major privacy concerns truck loads of Aadhaar numbers and other personal details of individuals are being leaked. Yesterday, it was revealed that the personal details over one millions Aadhaar subscribers were leaked on a website run by the Jharkhand Directorate of Social Security. Today, it is reported that the Aadhar numbers and other personal details of Public Distribution System[Read More…]
When asked about why India chose to go with the UID/Aadhaar model when several countries like France, Britain and Germany have disbanded such identification projects, Nandan Nilekani, a former official of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) replied, “Their purpose was not development, inclusion, saving government money or curbing corruption. How can you compare Aadhaar with the smart card project[Read More…]
We solemnly and earnestly appeal to you to save the present and future citizens from unlimited government as a consequence of an unlimited database of Indians and anonymous financing of political parties under the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and amended Companies Act, 2013 by seeking Hon’ble Supreme Court’s opinion under Article 143(2) of the Constitution of India on the constitutionality of biometric UID/Aadhaar in supreme national interest. This Article has not been used so far but extraordinary situations create compelling logic for extraordinary patriotic steps which can set a healthy precedent for all times to come.
This article was written as a rebuttal on the article that appeared in Business Line on April 1, 2017. It might be slightly technical but I will try to keep it within comprehensible limits for a person without Computer Science degree. Claim 1 from Nandan Nilekani: When seeding and authentication are done properly, the success rate is over 95 per[Read More…]
The opposition to Aadhaar mostly centres on the issues of surveillance and privacy. While these are very important issues, the lofty platform on which Aadhaar stands is supported on the myth that biometric based identity is infallible, robust and safe. None of this is true, which therefore brings into question the very utility of Aadhaar, as also the unforeseen complications[Read More…]
Today the National Federation of Indian Women and the Right to Food Campaign held a protest outside the Ministry of Human Resource Development, Shastri Bhawan to protest against the move of the Central Government to make Aadhaar mandatory for Mid Day Meal Scheme. People from more than ten states including UP, West Bengal, Odisha, Rajasthan, Chhatisgarh, Jharkhand, Bihar and Delhi[Read More…]
The right to food campaign strongly opposes the central government’s move to make Aadhaar compulsory for children under the midday meal scheme in government schools. This is nothing but an attempt to coerce people to enrol their children under Aadhaar. School meals are an important entitlement of Indian children, legally enforceable under Supreme Court orders as well as under the[Read More…]
Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar headed three-judge bench asked, “Surveillance to what. Is it a big deal?” This seemingly innocent question posed on January 5, 2017 merits considered reply. The other two judges were Justice N V Ramana and Justice D Y Chandrachud. According to Concise Oxford Dictionary, surveillance means ‘close observation, especially of a suspected person’. Isn’t surveillance dehumanizing?[Read More…]
If there is one document that has proliferated in India more than anything else, it is the Aadhaar card. Touted initially as a technological solution to the menace of corruption in welfare programmes, it has slowly emerged, quite unannounced, as an identification number for all citizens. It has found widespread acceptance and appears to have become the new normal. The[Read More…]
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My Amma (Malayalam word for Mother) passed away on August 22, 2023 at 3.10 AM. It is always difficult to deal with the passing of a parent, that too one’s mother. I thought the grief would go away. No it didn’t. All those bitter sweet memories won’t go away. At night I lie awake for hours. My friend, guide and[Read More…]
