0 Jul 2010, 0212 hrs IST,Harsimran Julka,ET
It was the year 1986. Two IIT Kanpur batchmates, Ram Sewak Sharma and Arvind Verma, were posted as bureaucrats at Begusarai — one as a district magistrate — and the other an IPS officer. Both were eager to implement their IIT skills in villages. So, Mr Sharma wrote a program in DBASE, a programming language that would keep a record of all stolen firearms in the crime-prone district. As soon as a firearm would be found, the programme would run a search query among thousands of age-old records. Together, they impressed the state government, by solving 22 cases in just 30 days. While Mr Verma went on to become a criminology professor at Indiana University, Mr Sharma is trying his tech skills, again, now to allot a number to each Indian citizen. As director general of the Unique ID Authority of India, RS Sharma speaks to ET on the challenges and issues with biometrics and uniqueness of India’s Unique ID programme. Excerpts :
When does the government plan to allot the first UID number?
RS Sharma : We plan to start the proof-of-concept (PoC) phase from August, in 10-12 towns and cities. The PoC stage should be over in about three months. We have a period from August to February when we plan to allot the first set of numbers.
Process for the award of the biometrics tender is almost complete. We have empanelled about 200 enrolling agencies. For training, we have appointed about 15 companies, NIIT and Aptech, among others. The course content for training will be prepared by CMC, while the online tests for enrolling agents will be done by Sify. We have signed an MoU with almost 27 states, SBI, LIC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda, to act as registrars.
How is India’s programme different?
RS Sharma : Countries around the world have launched their national ID programmes for various reasons. For examples: In Europe, the countries did it as part of their immigration control programme. In the US, the reason was social security. In India, we are doing it for three main reasons, the main one being inclusion. In Bangladesh, the context was electoral reforms. In Pakistan, the number programme concerns security.
Currently, in India, a Bihari labourer in Mumbai is not able to open a bank account locally. It prevents him from availing a ration card and various other social security benefits. We plan to change that by giving him a mobile identity. The other reason is to prevent leakages. India loses thousands of crores because of fake identities. Even if we plug 10% of it, the programme becomes self-sustaining.
What are the challenges?
RS Sharma : There are three main challenges. India is a vast country. So, there are infrastructure problems such as power cuts, so computers and networks may face issues. Then, the human angle. Many people don’t have proper fingerprints, they have worn out. So, we would require high-quality finger-print readers. Then, we have to convince agencies (like banks, mobile companies) to start using UIDAI’s authentication service once people get numbers.
Has UIDAI talked to some of the banks or telcos to start using the authentication service? When does the government plan to allot the first UID number?
RS Sharma : We plan to start the proof-of-concept (PoC) phase from August, in 10-12 towns and cities. The PoC stage should be over in about three months. We have a period from August to February when we plan to allot the first set of numbers.
Process for the award of the biometrics tender is almost complete. We have empanelled about 200 enrolling agencies. For training, we have appointed about 15 companies, NIIT and Aptech, among others. The course content for training will be prepared by CMC, while the online tests for enrolling agents will be done by Sify. We have signed an MoU with almost 27 states, SBI, LIC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda, to act as registrars.
How is India’s programme different?
RS Sharma : Countries around the world have launched their national ID programmes for various reasons. For examples: In Europe, the countries did it as part of their immigration control programme. In the US, the reason was social security. In India, we are doing it for three main reasons, the main one being inclusion. In Bangladesh, the context was electoral reforms. In Pakistan, the number programme concerns security.
Currently, in India, a Bihari labourer in Mumbai is not able to open a bank account locally. It prevents him from availing a ration card and various other social security benefits. We plan to change that by giving him a mobile identity. The other reason is to prevent leakages. India loses thousands of crores because of fake identities. Even if we plug 10% of it, the programme becomes self-sustaining.
What are the challenges?
RS Sharma : There are three main challenges. India is a vast country. So, there are infrastructure problems such as power cuts, so computers and networks may face issues. Then, the human angle. Many people don’t have proper fingerprints, they have worn out. So, we would require high-quality finger-print readers. Then, we have to convince agencies (like banks, mobile companies) to start using UIDAI’s authentication service once people get numbers.
RS Sharma : Yes, we are in talks with many of them. We have suggested a Micro ATM model to RBI and banks. Banks can appoint business correspondents in villages, who can work like a ‘human’ bank. He may sit in a village, use a mobile phone, plug it with a fingerprint reader, and then authenticate a person. If not using a fingerprint reader, the system may just use two mobile phones to transfer money. Our unique ID database can be linked with a bank’s system on the back-end. This way, one inputs a mobile number along with a PIN code and another authentication code, and cash can be transferred instantly from peer to peer, via mobile phones linked with UIDAI system. This will make banking reach the masses.
There are talks around budget constraints and cuts. What is the truth?
RS Sharma : About Rs 147 crore was allotted to UIDAI in the first phase, which is already complete. About Rs 1,900 crore was allotted to us under the Union Budget for this year, for the second phase. So, there are no constraints. The third phase is yet to begin. The managed service provider is yet to be finalised, which will again be a large project. But we are getting full support in terms of budget.
