Dear supreme court, show Aadhaar the door!

A five-judge constitutional bench will hear petitions challenging Aadhaar, amid reports of starvation deaths due to its non-linkage with ration cards

Anonymous | November 2, 2017


#Aadhaar   #Supreme Court   #Aadhaar  
(Illustration: Ashish Asthana)
(Illustration: Ashish Asthana)

Aadhaar was supposed to make life convenient. Its architects and backers, however, had some other plans. You just don’t have to enrol for it and use it as it suits. As asked in several government’s dictatorial sermons, a person has no choice but to link the mobile number, bank account, LPG database, ration card or PAN number (and so on) with Aadhaar. If she doesn’t, she is on her own, even if it cost her life.

As the December 31 deadline to link Aadhaar with a clutch of services and subsidies nears, media has reported starvation deaths from Jharkhand and Karnataka due to the discontinuation of ration supply owing to the non-linkage of Aadhaar with ration cards. Newspapers have reported death of eleven-year-old Santoshi Kumari in Simdega district.

Apparently, Santoshi was asking for rice on September 28 (the day she died), eight months after her family stopped getting ration from the fair price shop as their ration card was not linked with Aadhaar. According to a New Indian Express report dated July 16, three brothers of a dalit family died of starvation in Gokarna district of Karnataka because their local PDS shop refused to give them grain for not linking their ration card to Aadhaar.

In the meantime a new petition was filed in the supreme court on October 30 by advocate Raghav Tankha challenging governments order mandating Aadhaar linkage with mobile numbers. The two-judge bench issued notice to the government, seeking its response in four weeks.

Following the two-judge bench direction, attorney general KK Venugopal swiftly reached out to a chief justice headed bench requesting to set up a constitutional bench to decide once and for all cases related to Aadhaar in place of giving an interim ruling.

The bench headed by chief justice Deepak Mishra, also comprising justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud, said that the five-judge bench will take up the matter by the end of November.

It is important to note here that a nine-judge constitutional bench had ruled on August 24 that privacy is a fundamental right. As the five-judge bench hears cases challenging the validity of Aadhaar, let's not lose hope. Let's wait and watch.
 

Comments

 

Other News

Deep history of our languages show who we Indians are

Discovering India Anew: Out of Africa to Its Early History (Second Edition) By Alan Machado (Prabhu) Orient BlackSwan, 356 pages, Rs 750

Polling concludes for J&K assembly

The polling for the Jammu & Kashmir legislative assembly elections concluded on Tuesday in a peaceful and celebratory atmosphere. Scenes of voters patiently waiting in lines at polling stations, set against the scenic backdrop of the region, highlighted the people`s strong faith in democracy. The festi

Advancing green growth via bio-manufacturing and bio-foundry initiative

In the ongoing problem of facing environmental challenges, the call for sustainable practices has become more pressing than ever. Nations have started to strive to reduce their carbon footprint and mitigate the adverse effects of industrialization, innovative solutions are imperative. Unfortunately, due to

ECI reviews poll preparedness in Maharashtra

Ahead of the assembly elections in Maharashtra, chief election commissioner Rajiv Kumar and two election commissioners, Gyanesh Kumar and Sukhbir Singh Sandhu met all the stakeholders including political parties and officials during their two-day visit to the state. The term of the current a

Sanjay Raut gets bail relief after conviction in defamation case

A metropolitan magistrate court in Mumbai Thursday sentenced Sanjay Raut, Shiv Sena (UBT) MP and editor of party mouthpiece, ‘Saamna’, to 15 days imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 25,000 in a case filed by Medha Somaiya, wife of BJP leader Kirit Somaiya. Judicial magistrate A

Mahayuti alliance needs to work on winnability: Fadnavis

Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis has said that the Mahayuti government has reached a consensus for 80% seats to be contested in the upcoming assembly elections and discussions for remaining 20% seats are on. Speaking at the India Today Conclave in Mumbai, Fadnavis said that the alliance

Visionary Talk: Amitabh Gupta, Pune Police Commissioner with Kailashnath Adhikari, MD, Governance Now


Archives

Current Issue

Opinion

Facebook Twitter Google Plus Linkedin Subscribe Newsletter

Twitter