Rethink Aadhaar Profile picture
Mar 1, 2020 39 tweets 14 min read Read on X
We are getting set for Day 2 of the #AadhaarTribunal. Today we look at #AadhaarAndBeyond. Join us for another day of engaging conversations! Image
Here's a snapshot of what happened yesterday. Thank you @TheStatesmanLtd Image
And we've begun Day 2 of the #AadhaarTribunal with the session on gender rights. @SwetaDash93 speaks on the need to look at gender as a separate category and how, despite Nilekani's assertions, #Aadhaar-related issues have not been solved. Image
.@SwetaDash93 points out how even the @StateofAadhaar reports draw out the bias inherent in the project, e.g. minority communities have lower enrolment rates.

Speaks of inequities and food insecurities already prevalent and how #Aadhaar aggravates these problems.
Now @meeracomposes speaks about the issues faced by transgender persons and queer persons, among gender minorities. Image
.@meeracomposes talks about Aadhaar being inadequate and ineffective in understanding structural oppressions of gender and sexuality. Merely acknowledging the "transgender" term in the Aadhaar card is too little, too late!
Deepa from SAMA talks about intersections of gender, health and identities: it is impossible to not remember heteronormativity in this analysis. Image
Deepa adds that in case of the Medical Termination of Pregnancy and the POCSO Act being now conflated with Aadhaar only worsens the structural problems exponentially, and has life-threatening implications.
We are now discussing #Aadhaar data leaks. @squeal starts by discussing the case of Abhinav Srivastava

gadgetsnow.com/tech-news/aadh…
.@squeal points out that filing FIRs against Abhinav and @rachnakhaira belies the claim that reports of data leaks are false, elaborates the legal provisions that necessitate the filing of FIRs.
The issue with conducting #Aadhaar enrolment drives for "soldiers at the border" is that an #Aadhaar data leak implies an actual national security threat.
Now @digitaldutta talks about the sharing of #Aadhaar data by UIDAI with states in unencrypted Excel files.
Talks about the State Resident Data Hubs in Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. Image
Shubha Jindel begins her session on Aadhaar and the prison systems.

Empowered with Aadhaar, the ePrisons system saved on the cloud, violates the right to privacy is extremely dangerous manners. Image
Usha Ramanathan’s keynote sets the context, history &explains the imagination behind #aadhaar - It was an experiment on the population. They thought it would be a thing upon which apps would be built - individuals had a right to privacy which they must give up for the community Image
Usha Ramanathan speaks at the #AadhaarTribunal

The failure of the UIDAI as an ID, the inadequacies of biometrics and the inherent discriminatory characteristics of this project -- the first things we much be acknowledging. Image
This obsession with biometrics is a moon-shot.

In early days of Aadhaar, Mr.Nilekani said they shall "make it work" not that it does work.

It is, in fact,a "jugaad system": first they tried fingerprints, then iris and now Facial Recognition. Except, here even the jugaad fails!
The Aadhaar project attacks the right to a dignified life in the most atrocious manner.

Usha questions fundamental matters on privacy and data. The Aadhaar project is afterall now a business interest
Aadhaar relies on widescale coercion: not just of people but also of institutions. The term "voluntary" here is absolutely meaningless. The absurdity and lawlessness of the project is incommensurable.
When we began we did not know about the technology but we understood liberty. We learned about technology. If a system is unable to correct itself it may not collapse..but people collapse. We have had ten years of this and it has been ten years too much #Aadhaar #AadhaarTribunal
@tame_wildcard - #Aadhaar is one of the most undemocratic acts ever passed by Parliament. There was no consultation, no public scrutiny, not even proper debate in parliament. The Aadhaar Act & the process by which it was passed fundamentally attacks our form of govt. & democracy Image
.@apar1984 speaks on Aadhaar and data privacy: the PDP bill does not only violate privacy but creates an adjudicatory body that intervenes with our everyday engagement with information, invites violations by private enterprises, disregarded submissions of the advocates.
.@apar1984 urges us to pay heed to the dangers of the Orwellian State.

To have economic interests in a bill meant to safeguard privacy is illustrative of what the govt then prioritizes.
.@ashish_jja talks from a legislative perspective on the implications in the grassroots.
An erroneous database like the Aadhaar results in innumerable exclusions. Image
.@ashish_jja why is there no grassroot movement against Aadhaar?

Primary reason, he says, is the fear of exclusion from welfare entitlements. The tolas that refused to readily supply their Aadhaar have been en-masse excluded from food security.
It is a dangerous situation in a democracy that the poor are being strongarmed to not build a movement against aadhaar, and it is unfortunately a selective set of us who speak against Aadhaar.
Vrinda ponders on questions on distinctions between Aadhaar and others like the Census/Passport/so on.

The fact that Aadhaar is linked to other databases is what makes it all the more dangerous.
She examines implications of the delay in judicial process. She talks about the bizarre nature of how the case proceeded in court in ways not considered normal in the SC.

Aadhaar judgment provides multiple conclusions but there is no clear reasoning.
Vrinda urges an examination of the Aadhaar project with the proportionality test.
Ujwala begins her talk on Aadhaar and surveillance. She says: Aadhaar is not only a surveillance system without safeguards, but it is one that actively resists all safeguards.

The question before us is do we wish to embrace a surveillance state or a welfare state. Image
.@prasanna_s talks about Aadhaar and elections.

In Telengana, ~30lakh names were deleted from the voter list. Some RTI responses show that Aadhaar and SRDH database to de-duplicate. This was done with no notice to voters and as a violation to SC directions. Image
The argument that NRC will be a general purpose register is as unbelievably false as is the Aadhaar project.
The jury finds the Aadhaar project unconstitutional, flawed and fails the proportionality test. Aadhaar enables surveillance, disregards right to privacy wrto gender sexuality and child rights amongst other issues. Image
The jury considers that it is important NREGA payments must be duly paid to the beneficiaries and Aadhaar enables problems in the same. The jury shall provide a more detailed report on the findings.
Tarangini has a dissenting note on one of the question: the genesis of the project itself is inherently flawed. The sudden morphing of state interests from MNICs to Aadhaar is dubious. State interest was not even consistent throughout this.
She adds further that the very presence of such a data hub is dangerous. It is not only an invasion of privacy but also acts as a forerunner towards a surveillance state.
Patricia adds that even a 2 day Tribunal doesn't serve as an adequate frame to examine implications of Aadhaar all over the country. It is pertinent to understand why & how state governments of Eastern India deal with Aadhaar. She advocates a study of Aadhaar impact from the NE.

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More from @no2uid

May 2, 2021
As states suffer rising COVID-19 cases, the public distribution system is a lifeline for many who will be rendered food insecure. Aadhaar linkage increases the risk of transmission, and is a massive source of exclusion. This needs to go! A short thread:
1. Exclusion: In Kenjala village, Kombaru GP, Kadaba taluk: In the middle of a lockdown, people who made it to the PDS shop could not get rice - no mobile network. "staff had to move to the nearest hillock, searching for a proper.. network". daijiworld.com/news/newsDispl…
This is the tip of the iceberg. Reminder that a 2019 Lokniti-CSDS survey found between 28% to 40% persons (in the Hindi belt) had been denied foodgrains because of Aadhaar-related failures. indianexpress.com/article/explai…
Read 10 tweets
Apr 30, 2021
Link to sign a statement demanding that government ensures equitable access to vaccines and medical resources to survive the pandemic blocksurvey.io/survey/1PfQfn6… statement is attached ImageImageImageImage
Demands
-Increase access to vaccinations
-Ensure no barriers, including mandating Aadhaar, for access to diagnostics, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, medication or other treatments
-Protect peoples’ rights over their data
-Permit vaccination for all without ID/residence proof Image
This is a difficult time for all of us. As we write we have relatives & friends searching for hospitals, medicines & oxygen, isolating at home, and more being infected with the COVID-19 virus daily. Many of us are caring for those who are ill or need other support.
Read 6 tweets
Sep 26, 2020
Today, two years ago, on September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of India passed the landmark judgement that decided the fate of the #Aadhaar project in India. 
Link: indiankanoon.org/doc/116396036/
The focus of the judgement was on the constitutionality of the provisions of the #Aadhaar Act.
Link: indiacode.nic.in/handle/1234567…
The Court’s failure to find the #Aadhaar project unconstitutional was widely criticised for not addressing the problems of social exclusion and destruction fundamental rights.
Link: epw.in/engage/article…
Read 15 tweets
Aug 26, 2020
1/n Rethink Aadhaar & Article 21 Trust anchored a session on Surveillance & Technology at the Janta Parliament on 18 August 2020. More than 100 people attended & voted. Thread - Highlights from the session illustrated by @kruttikasusarla rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2020/8/24…
2/n @PaliSamuel presided over the session and highlighted “mass ostracization and harassment” faced by those who had their personal information on health status, travel history released in the public domain. Key guiding question: where is “trust” between people & the Govt. Image
3/n Keynote address by Usha Ramanathan - similarities between the exploitation of natural resources & collection of data. Must be more transparency on the relationship between state & corporate entities on data extractive practices with minimum regulatory oversight Image
Read 18 tweets
Aug 18, 2020
#JantaParliament thread with live tweets. @PaliSamuel introduces the 6th session on technology and surveillance - there is a need to ask who are excluded from their constitutional rights by technological solutions/interventions?
The people of Jammu&Kashmir have been denied internet access, migrant labourers asked to book trains online, rights bearing citizens reduced to data subjects #JantaParliament
Constitutional rights that form the architecture of governance must be present at the stage of design of technology (before even implemented or conceptualised) #JantaParliament
Read 32 tweets
Aug 17, 2020
Join us tmrw at #JantaParliament for a session on Technology, Exclusion & Surveillance from 3pm to 6pm. Hear 20 speakers critically appraise govt policy on technology, exclusion & surveillance. Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Visvam will attend, Usha Ramanathan will give the keynote address Image
You can register at this link bit.ly/2Y3cJH1 to participate #JantaParliament
Read 6 tweets

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