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Recording of iris data in progress for the Aadhaar Unique Identity Card at a centre in Thiruvananthapuram. The majority judges in the Puttaswamy II case upheld the UID project as constitutional because they did not see its surveillance aspects.

Future of freedom

The government’s decision to launch mass surveillance raises concerns beyond the freedom of speech and expression and is an extraordinary assumption o
Usha Ramanathan
Enrolment for Aadhaar card at a centre in Chennai in January. The judgment recognises the rights of children in two stages: when they are children, at which time the UID number may be used with parental consent and not be demanded of them, and when they are 18, at which stage they can exit the scheme.

Plethora of plaints

A range of petitioners challenged the constitutionality of the UID project, raising a spectrum of issues that included right to privacy, fear of a pro
USHA RAMANATHAN
(FILES) This file photo taken on January 18, 2017 shows an Indian visitor giving a thumb impression to withdraw money from his bank account with his Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) card during a Digi Dhan Mela, held to promote digital payment, in Hyderabad. India's Supreme Court ruled August 24 that citizens have a constitutional right to privacy, a landmark verdict that could have wide-reaching implications for the government's biometric programme which holds data on over one billion people. / AFP PHOTO / Noah SEELAM

Implications for Aadhaar

The verdict has altered unrecognisably the idea of state power. It is against this altered standard that the court will test the privacy violations of
USHA RAMANATHAN
HYDERABAD, 30/03/2010: People queuing up for registration at a special booth set up for the proof of concept of the Unique Identification Authority of India project at Patancheru in Medak district on March 30, 2010. Photo: Nagara Gopal

Blundering along, dangerously

The Aadhaar project’s headlong push towards “total” enrolment of Indian citizens threatens the privacy of individuals on an unprecedented scale, while
USHA RAMANATHAN
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM-16/02/2012::THIS IS WHO I AM::Children of the Christ Nagar Senior Secondary School Thiruvallam who underwent biiometric scanning on Thursday as part of the AADHAR scheme.......Photo:S.Gopakumar.

Dispelling the haze

That the lawmakers of the country have found themselves in a haze of incomprehension about the UID project, which is being promoted as a “game changer
USHA RAMANATHAN
Representatives of the Sikh community meet UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi on February 6, 2011, at her residence in New Delhi seeking clemency for Devinder Pal Singh Bhullar (below).-RAJEEV BHATT

Futile penalty

Anti-terrorism laws create cultures of impunity, making it a route fraught with peril for the imposition of the extreme penalty of death.
USHA RAMANATHAN
Brian Capaloff holdsa placard beside a cardboard cut-out picture of Linda Carty while standing on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square in London on September 10, 2009. Capaloff used his one-hour slot on the plinth to highlight Linda Carty's legal case. She is currently on death row in Texas. The fourth plinth project invites members of the public to stand and speak on Trafalgar Squares empty plinth.-ADRIAN DENNIS/AFP

Innocent convicts

Exoneration of the innocent through DNA testing in the U.S. breaks the silence on the ills besetting the criminal justice system.
USHA RAMANATHAN
At Tembhli village in Nandurbar district, a day before the launch of the UID in 2010.The village received the first numbers under the project.-

Setback to UID

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to be conceptualised with no clarity and directionless.
USHA RAMANATHAN
People who had turned up at a school in Hubli, Karnataka, on September 17 to apply for Aadhaar.-KIRAN BAKALE

Enrolment saga

The incentive of inclusion appears not to be sufficient to get people to enrol for the UID, so the strategy has shifted to the threat of exclusion.
USHA RAMANATHAN
TEAM ANNA MEMBER Arvind Kejriwal burns a copy of the government's Lokpal Bill during a protest in New Delhi on August 4.-SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP

Why all in one?

Given the experience with extraordinary powers vested in any institution, the wisdom of having a super-powerful body must be debated.
USHA RAMANATHAN
S.A.R. Geelani (centre) outside the Special Court in Patiala on December 18, 2002 after the court sentenced him to death along with Afzal (left), Shaukat Guru (right) and Afshan Guru (not in the picture).-SUBRAMANIUM

A case for a public inquiry

December 13: Terror over Democracy, by Nirmalangshu Mukherji, with a "Foreword Essay"by Noam Chomsky, Promilla & Co. in association with Bibliophile S
USHA RAMANATHAN
Indian Foreign Secretary Kanwal Sibal (right) and U.S. Ambassador to India Robert Blackwill after the signing of a `non-surrender' agreement in New Delhi, on December 26, 2002.-PRAKASH SINGH /AFP

To kill a court

A quiescent India toes the U.S. line in the battle over the International Criminal Court.
USHA RAMANATHAN
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