Some of you might already be clued in on what our politicians are planning for their election manifestos. In terms of Aadhaar, while there may not be any immediately positive indications, efforts are underway to push parties to take a stated stance to at least ensure that Aadhaar is purely a voluntary id similar to other Officially Valid Document(OVDs). However, we will need to push the demand through to all political parties we can possibly contact.
The memorandum related to the problems has been given to the SDM of the Tehsil by Rita, Ayesha, Rekha, on behalf of the Mahila Chetna Samiti Sangathan and by Gautam, Sheela, and Rukhsana from the MNREGA Mazdoor Union. The administration has assured resolution of the problem within 15 days. If the problem is not resolved then the workers will protest at the district level.
Over 260 organisations and concerned citizens across the spectrum of Indian society have written (read the letter) to the Vice President of India, who is also the Chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, and the Prime Minister demanding that the Aadhaar Amendments Bill and DNA Bill be subjected to greater scrutiny by sending them to the appropriate Parliamentary committees.
The Union Government has listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha tomorrow (January 2, 2019) the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2018, in the Lok Sabha. There are serious concerns violating court orders and citizens rights in this.
The Right to Food Campaign in Jharkhand reported the death of three more people from starvation after their ration cards were canceled due to not linking with Aadhaar. The full RFC update is included here.
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.
News reports of “starvation deaths” have been coming in a steady trickle over the past few years. One particularly tragic episode was that of eleven-year old Santoshi Kumari in Jharkhand. She died one year ago, on 28 September, begging her mother for rice as she slipped into unconsciousness. It was later learnt that her family had lost their ration card because it had not been linked with Aadhaar (in mid-2017, the Jharkhand government mass-cancelled Aadhaar-less rations cards).
Latest from courts, parliament and the grassroots. Rejoice, you can now file taxes online without having to give Aadhaar! Vol. II of this update will follow soon.
This is a statement of solidarity within the civil society among some organisations that work towards promoting the rights to information and privacy.
The resolutions are endorsed by the National Campaign for the Peoples’ Right to Information (NCPRI), SaveOurPrivacy, IT for Change and Rethink Aadhaar.
Summer is seeping into the monsoon. Much has happened in the last months. For the poor, Aadhaar and hunger deaths remain connected. The Right to Food Campaign reported on continuing hunger deaths in Jharkhand. Many of those who died faced issues with rations related to Aadhaar. For the middle classes, many have faced difficulty in filing IT returns and difficulty with educational institutions. The proposed National Health Stack might affect us all. We continue waiting for the Supreme Court to deliver its judgment, we bring you some updates.
Pension Parishad is releasing this statement in the behest of Mr. Jitendra Singh's statement that aadhaar is not mandatory for senior government employees for pensions. by not extending the same courtesy, or option to the beneficiaries of the pension schemes of the NSAP smacks of discrimination, callousness, and cruelty with some of the most vulnerable citizens of India.
In 2016, some of us came together to formulate a response to the Aadhaar onslaught and attempted to organise resources to challenge Aadhaar. We also worked to raise awareness and developed resources to help others understand - and critique - the project. We thought we would be focused on both “welfare and privacy” - two worlds that did not seem particularly connected until the UID project attacked our rights in both spheres. Some of us loosely began calling for “Rethink Aadhaar” (or “no2UID”).
In January 2018, while releasing the AISHE 2017-18, HRD Minister Shri Prakash Javdekar said that 80,000 bogus teachers had been detected through use of Aadhaar. However, in response to an RTI application, the HRD ministry was unable to furnish any evidence to back the claim. In response to another RTI application, the HRD ministry stated that it had no information on whether any inquiry had been set up to probe into the matter & whether any disciplinary action was taken against those involved in this fraud.
Under the Aadhaar Act, “identity information” consists of Aadhaar number, biometric information and demographic information. “Biometric information”, as of now, consists of fingerprints, iris scan and photograph, but its scope can be expanded at UIDAI’s discretion. “Demographic information” refers to demographic details (name, date of birth, address etc.) collected at the time of Aadhaar enrolment. The term “personal information”, not used in the Aadhaar Act (except in Section 30) can be understood in more general terms as any information of a private nature.
On 22nd March, UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey made a presentation before the Supreme five-judge bench to convince them that all was well with Aadhaar. On slide 42, an extremely important piece of evidence showing the utter failure of Aadhaar Based Biometric Authentication ABBA for welfare was allowed to stand without being brought to notice of the learned judges: the percentage of authentication failures.
The Right to Food Campaign is deeply disappointed by the 13 March 2018 Supreme Court order which extends the deadline for Aadhaar linking of facilities such as bank accounts and SIM cards, but permits the continued imposition of Aadhaar on social services and entitlements such as the public distribution system (PDS), the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) and social security pensions. This order perpetuates a long-standing double standard, whereby the hardships experienced by privileged classes due to Aadhaar being made mandatory are being addressed while much greater hardships endured by poor people are ignored.
The Interim Order issued by the Supreme Court today has come as a grave disappointment, given the large scale exclusion and cases of starvation deaths reported due to Aadhaar, the biometrics-linked resident ID, from the poorest districts of the country.
Dear friends and subscribers, The March 31, 2018, deadline for linking Aadhaar to various essential services is nearing, which we are sure is a cause for anxiety. We hope this comprehensive newsletter will help you navigate the Aadhaar mess - as always, please feel free to write in with your questions and concerns.
Dear friends and subscribers, The March 31, 2018, deadline for linking Aadhaar to various essential services is nearing, which we are sure is a cause for anxiety. We hope this comprehensive newsletter will help you navigate the Aadhaar mess - as always, please feel free to write in with your questions and concerns.
