Post offices to take passport application, regional passport office, Madurai region.

BS Post : 89 Date : 01.12.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

TNN | Nov 30, 2013, MADURAI: For those who find it difficult to pay exorbitant charges demanded by internet centres for applying passport, here comes good news. The Tamil Nadu postal circle, southern region, and regional passport office, Madurai region, have initiated a facility to help senior citizens and children below 15 years to apply for passports at post offices.

The two departments, which launched the venture, claimed that the initiative is first of its kind in the nation. To apply, minors and elderly people can simply walk into selected post offices in Madurai city. All they need to do is to fill the available application and hand it over to the officials concerned. Once the details are uploaded in the website, the customer would be given the Application Reference Number (ARN) generated after the procedures. People who want to apply for police clearance certificate can also utilise the service and it would costs only Rs 50, said passport officials. "The service has been launched in Madurai as a pilot programme. It would be available at the head post offices in Talakulam, Arasarasi and Madurai. We have plans to expand the service in other southern districts along with postal department," said S Maniswara Raja, regional passport officer, Madurai. J Charukesi, post master general, southern region, Madurai also took part in the inaugural function on Thursday.

Last year, as many as two lakh passport applications were received by Madurai regional passport office and most of the applications were from districts like Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai. Most of the applicants, who wish to work in gulf countries and who do not have internet facility, fall prey to the internet centres which charge high, passport officials said.

What happened in the Supreme Court on Tuesday as the judges heard a public interest litigation that challenged the constitutional validity of Aadhaar?

BS Post : 88 Date : 29.11.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

On Tuesday, the Supreme Court issued notices to state governments to explain their stance on making the unique identity (UID) number, Aadhaar compulsory.

Hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) that challenged the constitutional validity of Aadhaar number being issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the apex court opined that it would not want to be in a situation where a state government would later plead that they were not given an opportunity to be heard.

Shyam Divan, the counsel for Maj Gen (retd) SG Vombatkere, cited example of several States which made Aadhaar mandatory for availing of host of services. For instance, he said in Kerala and Himachal Pradesh, admissions to school required students to have Aadhaar. Maharashtra recently made Aadhaar compulsory for government employees to draw their salary and pay slips. Madhya Pradesh followed the Centre’s diktat to make Aadhaar mandatory for receiving pension and provident fund benefits in three districts while Himachal Pradesh linked the Aadhaar scheme to offer scholarships in universities.

The bench of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde was initially of the view that the petitioners are only bothered by the government making UID compulsory. So, the Bench asked Divan, “If we order that it cannot make it mandatory, would you have a case?”

Divan replied that the issues are deeper and he needs time to explain the whole scheme. The Aadhaar project, the senior advocate said, was ultra vires as it did not have a statutory backing. Moreover, no statutory guidance exists on crucial questions such as—who can collect biometric information, how it is to be collected and stored, protection of collected data, who can use the data and when it must be used.

The Supreme Court then asked, “Would you have a case if Parliament passes a law giving UID legal status?” Divan replied that even if  the Constitution is amended, UID would be illegal.

Divan then took the court through the flow chart of how UID enrolments are done, the kind of  Private Companies are involved and the dangers of the scheme. He pointed out how UIDAI signed memorandum of understanding with States which had no legal sanctity. He said, State appoints registrars, who could even be a private person, who engaged private companies to collect biometric data. There is also the fear that the private party which collects the data then stores it in a personal laptop, which does not belong to the government.

The counsel for Maj Gen (retd) Vombatkere, then briefly mentioned some abuses which could be carried out using UID.

He brought out how if a password of an ATM card was compromised, the cardholder could change the password, but if one's fingerprints or iris (biometrics) are the passwords, then the person whose password is compromised has no remedy. The court wanted to know the definition of biometrics in UID and spent some time studying it.

He also told the apex court about how UID changes the relationship between the state and the citizen. Convicted criminals relinquish some privacy rights. They have their fingerprints taken for record. Here the government is treating all people as criminals. One of the judges on the bench was very interested in this line of argument and asked many probing questions.

Interestingly, neither the UIDAI nor union government have filed any counter to the PIL. They have not denied any of the allegations made in the petition by Maj Gen (retd) Vombatkere and Col (retd) Matthew Thomas.

Removed the ‪‎AngolaBansIslam‬ post from my blog

BS Post : 87 Date : 26.11.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

I have removed the ‪‎AngolaBansIslam‬ post from my blog. The authenticity of the report and the newspaper that first published it is becoming increasingly unreliable. I apologize for any misinformation. 

On understanding, parts of the claim were skewed to give a misunderstanding. The Angolan government has clarified its stance to be 'freedom of religion, regardless of religion' (in paraphrase). The part about 'islam being illegal' is only true in-the-sense that there is no national recognition of islam. This is also the case in many western countries such as France and Italy where Islam exists but is not nationally recognized. 

With all of this in mind, we ask you all to in the future be cautious and careful when reading any materials from (the first website and primary source to have published the article online. Original publication was from a Moroccan News paper).

Passports will have a new security feature 'letter screen image' (LSI).

BS Post : 86, Date : 16.11.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

The ministry of external affairs has recommended the new feature to be implemented in passports to be issued henceforth.

Now, the 'LSI' feature is a minor modification to this image. "Only passport staff and immigration officials can find out about the new feature added to the applicant's photograph." 

The first, second and last two pages of the new passport would be laminated. The applicant's photograph would appear on the second page, while other information such as address, which used to be in the last pages, would now be on page 35. The seal and signature of the authority would be on the first page.

"Nobody can tamper the image of the applicant with the new LSI feature. However, passport and immigration authorities can access the details at the time of passport verification."

"Henceforth, passport applicants, who either apply for regular or tatkal, will get passports with the new security feature,"

Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

Today marks the one-year anniversary of the death of Bal Keshav Thackeray

BS Post : 85, Date : 17.11.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

Bal Keshav Thackeray was an Indian politician who founded the Shiv Sena, a right-wing Marathi ethnocentric party active mainly in the western India's Maharashtra

Bharat Ratna, the country's highest civilian award, conferred to Sachin Tendulkar.

BS Post : 84, Date : 16.11.2013,  Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

Congratulations to legendary cricketer Sachin Tendulkar on getting the 'Bharat Ratna' award for his contribution to Indian sports.