Inside India

By Swati Prasad

Its size, its people, its coming of age

Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?

Posted in Inside India by Swati Prasad on Friday, June 26 2009 06:10 PM

In his book Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century, Nandan Nilekani, co-founder of Infosys, talks about how the future of India depends not just on simple economic growth, but also on reforms and innovations in all sectors of public life.

Today, he has the rank equivalent to that of an Indian Cabinet Minister to put many innovative ideas to practice.

A month after forming the new government, Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has proved that he means business. Yesterday, his government announced that Nilekani would take over as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Once implemented, the ambitious unique identification (UID) project would ensure each one of India's over 1.1 billion people have a unique biometric identity card.

"This demonstrates the commitment of the UPA government to fast-track the implementation of their election manifesto, which had UID as a key project," Som Mittal, president of software body Nasscom, said yesterday.

Nilekani has since resigned as co-chairman of Infosys, and was reportedly chosen by the PM himself.

Estimated to be worth nearly US$4 billion, the UID project will eventually become the basis of the Citizens Smart Card Project, recommended by the Second Administrative Reforms Commission, which would enable citizens to avail of subsidies on food, energy, education, etc.

The appointment of Nilekani has a lot of bearing on the Indian IT industry. Here are some of my thoughts:

Ха By appointing Nilekani, the government has signaled that public-private partnerships may well be the name of the game (at least, insofar as e-government projects are concerned).
Ха With Nilekani as its ambassador, the IT industry (and citizens) will look forward to speedier action on this project and smoother implementation. This should do a lot of good to the image of Indian IT.
Ха With Nilekani at the helm, India (in all probability) should have a state-of-the-art unique identification card program in place.
Ха This is a very critical project for India. It has significant transformational capabilities. If implemented soon and competently, this project can change the face of the country--by bringing about higher efficiencies and transparency, and reducing corruption (the biggest evil gripping Indian society today).
Ха This project can help reduce poverty by targeting schemes and subsidies toward those who really need it.
Ха The UID project will provide a huge database for planners to launch new schemes that can tackle several problems facing the country.
Ха If implemented properly, the UID can also bolster the country's security issues and curb terrorism and other threats to national security.

I think all Indians should now look forward to their unique ID cards and to days when we wouldn't have to stand in long queues, bribe officials and pay touts to get our work done. I hope it's not too early to imagine that India! Or is it, Mr. Nilekani?

Disclaimer:
Views and opinions expressed in this blog are the author's, and do not necessarily represent those of ZDNet Asia.

Talkback 7 comments

Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
it will definitly reduce duplication and to that extent reduce corruption. .. i doubt about its universal coverage because of logistical nightmare in india.. secondly i doubt how much it can help in controlling security. there will legal challenges and ethical issues involved.
Posted by anonymous on Sunday, June 28 2009 12:36 PM

RE: Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
Yes,
It will solve many problems of India.
including terrorism,Unemployment,Unique Identity.
The network for reading the UID card must be developed parallely for effective result of the project.
ON lLINE & OFFLINE SOLUTION FOR reading the UID card IS AVAILABLE WITH ME with advance featutres.
Posted by anonymous on Monday, June 29 2009 03:09 PM

RE: RE: Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
Corruption is the only problem that we are facing to this date. My question is when they are trying to implement UID. Are they trying to make efforts to dispose Ration cards, Election cards etc. Otherwise it will be one more mean to just increase the burden on the system. I would suggest tht when the child is born by default he/she should be provided with UID and PAN No which will be interconnected.
Posted by anonymous on Tuesday, July 07 2009 11:38 AM

RE: Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
Unique ID Cards are very much essential for Indians.
we must have to support Mr Nilekani with timelines to complete the project.
Posted by Harish on Friday, July 31 2009 02:21 PM

Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
It is easier conceived than to implement such a process and the very wish to take up such a project is definitely a positive step by the UPA Government. What is more impressive that they have chosen probably the most suitable person available to execute the job. Diminishing terrorism through a card might never be reality as terrorism has roots further down and it probably needs a different approach. But surely it will create a huge effect on the innumerable unauthorized immigrant present in the country. I strongly believe this is a beginning of a new era and we as the citizen of this country are proud to see such a program gets the light.
Posted by Sunando Banerjee on Monday, July 20 2009 08:02 PM

RE: Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
Unique number is necessary. finger print + 16 digit number + pic should be stored in databases. this gives each finger print a number and corresponding face of that finger. if you go to some gov office they check your number and matches you with picture in their database but no need of physical id card. i just feel that you cant server people if you are not aware how many you are about to serve. like you can't determine quantity of food in your house if you dont know how many people are there in house.
Posted by Ravi on Monday, August 24 2009 03:09 PM

Should India now look forward to unique ID cards?
This project is definitely pro India and will leapfrog the administrative & management hurdles in the country. Referring to the comments in this blog, I do feel the integrating the Unique ID number with the PAN A/c no. would be beneficial in two ways:- 1. All bank accounts of individuals can be linked to the one PAN no. and monitored (and could curb corruption if need be). 2. All citizens of the nation would have to have basic education to use their bank accounts (reducing the illiteracy percentage). In fact, we could move to a stage where transactions would be solely done through banks (especially now that RBI has strengthened the online banking security). The concept of printing money and the nuisance created by fake currency notes can be totally eradicated. Of course, to get such a system in place would take ages but since we're starting off with the UID program, it may be worth it to "Begin with the end in mind".
Posted by Abhinandan Das on Saturday, October 03 2009 10:50 AM

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Swati Prasad

Swati Prasad is a New Delhi-based freelance business journalist. Over the last 15 years, Swati has worked in both Delhi and Mumbai as a correspondent and editor for IndiaТs leading publications, such as The Economic Times, Business Standard and Business Today. As a freelance journalist, she regularly writes on technology, economy and corporate issues.