[Reader-list] UID implementation challenges - 187

[Taha Mehmood]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/Economy/UID-implementation-challenges/articleshow/4869806.cms

UID implementation challenges
8 Aug 2009, 1343 hrs IST, S P Ketkar,

 Who are you? Where are you from? These questions may sound
philosophical but need to be answered and substantiated with
documentary evidence,
if one wants to open a bank account or subscribe to a mobile connection.

How does one fulfil these requirements of proof of identity (PoI) and
proof of address (PoA)? Well, a passport, driving license, PAN card,
voter ID and few other documents can serve the purpose.

Given our 15,000 km of international border and 5,500 km of coastline,
24 out of 28 states and five out of seven UTs have one or more
international borders or a coastline. In this situation, intelligence
agencies find it difficult to keep a check on infiltrators,
particularly if illegal immigrants acquire PoIs and PoAs from
intermediaries and mingle with common Indians.

Therefore, curbing illegal immigration has been one of the main
motives of the government in planning a unique ID (UID) for every
Indian. UIDs are also expected to be of help in law and order
enforcement, implementing the quota system for public distribution,
defining social welfare entitlements, financial inclusion and
improving overall efficiency of the government administration.

So far, various government departments have been issuing certain
documents for administering their services and others have been
accepting those selectively as PoIs and/ or PoAs. Ration cards, which
have been in existence for long are not valid as PoIs.

PAN cards being related to income tax have limited coverage and are
not acceptable as PoAs. Passports and driving licences serve as
PoI-cum-PoA but cover only a small part of our population. EPICs
(electoral photo identity cards) or voter ID cards introduced in 1993
have the widest coverage; but even these have reached only 82%
excluding Assam.

And above all, ill-intentioned individuals can acquire and misuse
these documents; like EPICs used not for voting but for acquiring a
new mobile connection! Therefore, government has been very keen on
'tamper-proof, non-replicable and unique' ID for every Indian.

Knowing the magnitude and complexities involved in issuing ID to each
Indian, a pilot project costing Rs 45 crore was undertaken by the
government to cover a population of nearly 31 lakh residents in border
districts of 12 states and select areas of Delhi.

The first lot of MNICs (Multi-Purpose National ID Cards) was issued in
Delhi in March 2007. Thereafter, IDs were hibernating for sometime
till the government recently announced setting up of a full-fledged
UIDAI (Unique ID Authority of India), under the aegis of Planning
Commission. It has now decided to cover on priority the 3,331 coastal
villages for issue of unique IDs by March 2010.

UIDAI is mandated to issue smart card UIDs, develop an online database
with identity and biometric details of resident Indians and provide
enrolment and verification services across the country.

There are no doubts or questions on the intent and the objectives of
the UID project. But there are implementation challenges that would
test the political will, government's commitment and 'identity' of
everyone associated with the ambitious task. And the manner in which
such issues are handled and government machinery leveraged for
execution will determine the ultimate success of establishing
everyone’s identity.

The first and foremost challenge is accurate capture of personal
information from everyone including the 'uneducated', and error-free
entry of the data gathered for issue of ID cards.

Department of posts (DoP), with its network of over 150,000 offices
can play a vital role in information collection, delivery of ID cards,
as centres for reading those "Smart Cards" and for validation of
address change requests.

Second, centralised storage of personal information heightens the risk
of data corruption, unauthorised access, commercial exploitation of
the database and use of information for discriminatory treatment based
on religion, mother-tongue, domicile state, etc. These risks can be
minimised by limiting the UID related data collection, only to the
fields relevant for determination of unique ID and not linking this
database to any other databases for banking, education, public
distribution and so on.

Third, given the limited space, UID cards can probably display
information printed in say English, Hindi and one more local language.
But such cards issued in one state may not make much sense in the
interiors of other states.

This can be easily handled if memory chips on the cards are loaded
with cardholder's details in all scheduled languages. Finally, if 31
lakh MNIC pilot project cost was Rs 45 crore, a provision of Rs 120
crore for UIDs in 2009-10 budget can barely cover another 100 lakh
population.

Also, cards may get spoiled, misplaced, lost or stolen and the budget
must provide for at least one UID per person, every five years.
Therefore, for successful implementation of UID in a country of
100-crore population; at an average cost of Rs 100 per card issued,
there has to be a UID provision of at least Rs 10,000 crore in every
five year plan.

(The author is an alumnus of IIM Bangalore.)