UID Project: Identity Crisis.

He was Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's choice to number India's teeming millions. Nandan Nilekani was the rock star of corporate India delivered to Yojana Bhavan as if by FedEx to head the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The UPA Government had taken inspiration from Nilekani's own thinking-which he espoused in his book Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century-on the need for a unique identity number for citizens. Nilekani quit his much-respected job as co-chairperson of Infosys last year to take up the new assignment with a sense of duty for the larger cause.
But as he moves beyond the rhetoric of Imagining India to the task of Imaging India, the UID project is coming under the scanner for its utility in a country that has already become a house of identity cards. Though the authority is all set to roll out the process this month, the UID's ability to give a massive jolt to the flawed public delivery system based on identity numbers is being questioned. Many social activists, thinkers and even leaders like the Congress's Mani Shankar Aiyar are wondering whether the project is worthwhile.
The UID will assign a unique number (Aadhaar number) to each enrolled individual. Various registering agencies like banks or insurance companies will be appointed to identify the person in case of his dealings with a public organisation, regulatory authority or law enforcement agency. The information on the UID database will be basic-name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, the name and UID numbers of both parents, address, and photograph and fingerprints.
"UID is an important part of public service delivery reforms. Its benefits will be far greater than its cost."Nandan Nilekani, UIDAI chairman
Unlike the pan card or the voter's id card, the UID number will not ensure any benefits or rights. It will only help in identifying the person while opening bank accounts or enrolling for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) jobs. The Government has approved a budget of Rs 3,170 crore for the first two phases spread over five years. It is selling the new UID number as a system that will uniquely identify each person and enable it to target and deliver services effectively, especially in the Public Distribution System (PDS). With a network of over four lakh fair price shops selling commodities worth more than Rs 15,000 crore to about 16 crore families every year, the PDS is one of the largest distribution networks of its kind in the world.
One of the key challenges most Indians face is the difficulty in establishing their identity. The UID claims to end the menace of having to hold more than one ID card to access entitled benefits. According to the UIDAI, "The singular problem that it will seek to solve is of 'identity'. Once a person has a UID number, their basic identity, linked to their biometrics, is established and can be used to uniquely identify the individual."
But many think that the scheme is a step behind social realities that reduce the access of needy sections to welfare schemes in spite of a series of identity cards. Questions are being asked about introducing a new number-based identity when several identity proofs already exist. "The Aadhaar number will not do away with all the other cards. Over time, it will be the unifying number across various cards. It will enable online authentication of identity and will be a proof of identity, especially for those sections of society that have no such form now," says Nilekani.
The recurring problem with the PDS is not that above poverty line families creep into the system but that many worthy BPL families are out of the ambit of the scheme. A 2005 Planning Commission study found that about 58 per cent of subsidised foodgrain does not reach BPL families. The UID in no way guarantees benefits and the new law doesn't prevent various service providers from seeking other background documents even if an applicant has a valid UID number.
"Hi-tech without Panchayati Raj is just a bogus stunt for geeks and nerds."Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress leader
Thus, it is no guarantee for an immigrant worker from Bihar to get a ration card in Delhi. In effect, the number may add to the existing set of worries. Nilekani agrees that it is still the responsibility of the state governments to determine the eligibility for benefits. But he insists that the Aadhaar number will facilitate the process. Others argue that the UID is a wrong solution for a bigger problem.
"The problem with our social investments is not duplication of cards but exclusion of a large number of citizens. Instead of pouring money to remove duplication, which is only a minor part of the problem, the Government needs to expand the schemes to include more needy people," says R. Ramkumar of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai.
When the Planning Commission first decided on the scheme, it was not about numbers being assigned to people but smart cards, much like a multi-storied building where each scheme is "housed" in one floor. Now the idea of the card has been abandoned and the UIDAI's purview will be limited to issuing unique identification numbers. If you are asking for a job under the MGNREGS, the authorities will send your number to the UIDAI centralised office and a message will be sent saying yes or no. This will verify whether you are the person you are claiming to be.
UID for Dummies
Five-year plan: Over five years from this year-end, the authority plans to issue 600 million UIDs through various "registrar" agencies across the country, which include both Government and private sector agencies like insurance companies and banks.
Database: A resident will have to go to an enrolling agency, fill up a form and provide the supporting documentation, including a photograph, all 10 fingerprints and iris scan. The enrolling agency will collect this data that will be passed on to the UID database.
Reaching the masses: If the individual is not already in the database, a UID number will be issued and sent to him at his home by speedpost. The tear-away portion in the letter can act as a card to reference the number.
Not proof enough: The UID number will not be proof of citizenship. It will include all residents who are in India and want to use public services.
Single window: It has been marketed as the single source of identity verification. People would be spared the trouble of repeatedly providing identity documents. They need to give their number as residence proof, which will be verified with the centralised data.
A FULL DECK
India has already become a house of ID cards
CARD - COVERAGE
PAN Card - Every person with taxable income.
Election Photo Identity Card - Indian citizens above 18.
Employee Provident Fund Organisation - Employees in the formal sector.
Multi-Purpose National Identity Card - Citizens of India. Is issued by the Central Government.
Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana Card - Provides insurance cover to all BPL families.
MGNREGS card - Citizens of India seeking employment under the scheme.
Driving Licence - Citizens who are 18 and above.
Passport - Citizens of Indiawho travel abroad.
Ration Card - Cards issued to those families who use the PDS system. Only BPL families qualify.
"UID will not remove the pitfalls of the PDS. The exclusion that denies people access to food cannot be corrected by electronic identity. In fact, it will deepen the exclusion and criminalise the excluded," says social activist Vandana Shiva. The UID also cannot address two major sources of leakage in the PDS and MGNREGS. First, the diversion of grains and pulses happen on the way to the ration shops. Second, the dealers only sell part of the entitled food to the poor and testify on official documents that they have got their full quota.
On the MGNREGS front, wages are being paid through banks and post offices since 2008 (83 per cent MGNREGS workers have an account), reducing the possibility of corruption. The workers in some cases are forced to share the wages with extortionist middlemen and politicians. In other cases, they collude with middlemen to share inflated wages. The introduction of the UID number cannot address any of these concerns despite its claims to stop leakages.
To tackle over 600 government departments and state governments, which would prefer to carry on with their control over the cards, is easier said than done. The resistance from these agencies, especially when the UIDAI plans to use them as registrars who will act as enrollers, may prove costly for the project. Aiyar warns that the UIDAI will meet the fate of former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi's Panchayati Raj initiative which failed because of the refusal of state governments to devolve power to the grassroots.
"The UID substitutes a name with a number. Nilekani's authority is not empowered to enforce the use of UID on every central Government ministry, agency or state Government. I fear our prime minister's UID initiative will flounder on the same rocks that a previous prime minister's panchayat initiative had," says Aiyar. He argues that modern technology can hugely improve the delivery of social security schemes but only if it embraces the country's three lakh village panchayats.
Apart from the technological challenges, the costs involved in such a project are enormous and need to be weighed against the limited benefits. "Even after the commitment to such expenditure, the uncertainty over technological options and the ultimate viability of the scheme remains. Add to this the recurring costs for maintaining a networked system necessary for ID cards to function effectively," says Ramkumar.
But Nilekani counters the arguments, saying the scheme's benefits will be far greater than the costs involved. "The UID number has a transformatory potential in the delivery of public services. It will help in eliminating duplicates in the system as well as provide an effective platform for better delivery of services," he says.
"The innocuous application of UID to social policy does not diminish the danger of state control."Jean Dreze, Economist
The UIDAI says there will not be any pressure on citizens to enroll for the number. The registrars-who will enroll people in the database and will be both private operators and from government agencies-may insist that they will extend services to those who have enrolled. "The measures towards ensuring that the number is truly voluntary needs to be provided in the proposed legislation. A prohibition against denial of goods, services, entitlements and benefits (private or public) for the lack of a UID number should be made an offence under the Bill," says Sunil Abraham, director, Centre for Internet Society, a Bangalore-based research organisation.
But there are bigger worries that the project may completely change the norms of privacy, confidentiality and security of personal information. There are currently various pieces of information available separately and held in discrete "silos" by the government departments. The citizen usually gives information that is necessary for any agency to do the job. While telephone companies may not know about your health details, your hospital need not know your income details. Its critics argue that the personal information of citizens is rendered all the more vulnerable to misuse in an atmosphere that encourages private participation in social service delivery.
"It is this that makes some privacy possible in a world where there are so many reasons and locations where we give information about ourselves. The ease with which technology has whittled down the notion of the private has to be contained, not expanded. The UID, in contrast, will act as a bridge between these silos of information and take control away from the individual about what information we want to share and with whom," says Usha Ramanathan, a noted law researcher based in Delhi. There is a difference between people tracking a state, and the state and the "market" tracking people.
"The UID is clearly not what it is presented as being: it is not benign, nor a mere number which will give an identity to those who the state had missed so far," adds Ramanathan. Economist Jean Dreze has yet another concern. "This scheme is being introduced at a time of growing state authoritarianism, and opens the door to an unprecedented degree of state control. The possibility of innocuous applications of the UID scheme to social policy does not significantly diminish this fundamental danger," he says. Nilekani says that the draft bill addresses many concerns of data security and confidentiality, and that a larger data privacy framework is needed to fully address these issues.
The UID is not just about Nilekani's head-counting skills. It is about considering the subordinate question of duplication-there is only 2 per cent duplication in Tamil Nadu's PDS rolls and Chhattisgarh's hologram-enabled cards eliminated 8 per cent of the duplication-rather than the broader question of greater access for the poor.
Foreign Hands
Privacy concerns have made ID cards a non-starter in many countries
European CountriesMost European Union members have voluntary and compulsory ID cards, except Denmark, Latvia and Lithuania. In Sweden, information is stored on a chip in the card and not in any central database.
United KingdomThe government's attempts to impose compulsory ID cards sparked off fury early this year. The Home Affairs committee shot down the idea as its benefits outweighed the increased data protection risks.
United StatesThe Social Security programme number is also used as the national identification number. But attempts at introducing biometric national cards have come under fire from rights groups.
ChinaEarly this year, China began issuing smart cards to its citizens. The cards can also help identify those who use ATMs, enter a building with an electronic guard system or even pick up their children from kindergarten.
AustraliaIn 1985, the government proposed Australian cards, mostly to curb tax evasion. Following a vigorous opposition campaign, the proposal was withdrawn in 1987.
The project throws up crucial issues relating to profiling, tracking and surveillance, both by the state and the market. The possibility of data theft is a worrying scenario. The Government seems to have sugar-coated the idea with Nilekani's impeccable image and its supposed benefits to the social sector. But before the numbers game reaches a point of no return, the nation needs to give it a closer critical look.
Tech Troubles
UID faces the biggest challenge from its focus, the rural poor
Identity parade: Nilekani will bank on unique patterns on our fingers to identify 1.14 billion people. While two metrics will be used in issuing the UID number-an iris scan and a photograph-fingerprinting will be the metric used in authentication.
Quality check: Worn-out fingers of farmers and manual labourers have made the task tough for UID technicians. These fingers, euphemistically referred to in technical literature as "low-quality" fingerprints, exist precisely in the demographic segment the UID aims to help.
Blind reality: An iris scan can't be done on people with corneal blindness or corneal scars. The number of people with corneal blindness alone is estimated at six to eight million. Only a photograph can be used for identity determination until competent technology is developed.
No minor issue: Children's fingerprints, iris scans and photographs will be updated every five years till the age of 18. Till then, either of the parents will need to provide their biometric information for authentication.