489 - UID kit ready, rollout soon - The Financial Times

Dhiraj Nayyar
Posted Monday the 31st August 2010


New Delhi: Even as the decennial census exercise carries on in different parts of the country, Nandan Nilekani and his team at the UIDAI are getting ready to kick start what is perhaps an even more ambitious exercise, in giving out unique identification numbers to India’s 1.2 billion people. Well aware of all the possible glitches, technical and human, Nilekani is non-committal on a precise date for the rollout, but at least a select few people of India may have their first contact with the massive exercise as soon as in September.

Unlike in the census, there will be no paper wielding government employees knocking at doors. Instead, cities, towns and villages across India will witness and influx of enrollment officials (almost certainly not government employees), who will set up enrollment stations in different parts of the state, armed with the brand new UID kit.

The kit consists of 8 essential items packed into what looks like two medium-size suitcases—an iris scanner, a fingerprint machine, a camera, a laptop, a computer screen linked to the laptop, an Internet datacard/pipe, a memory stick and a printer. The laptop contains a bilingual software (English and the local language) that runs the whole ID process. The software links to the iris machine, fingerprint machine and the camera, recording biometric data and a photograph. The second computer screen is purely for the client who, in the interest of complete transparency, can watch exactly what is being recorded. The software contains a transliteration device so that data entries like name, address etc need be typed in only one language. There is automatic translation to the other language. That translation can be manually over ridden if there is a problem, with spelling for example.
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Eventually, of course, the data is transmitted to the UIDAI database via a broadband pipe over the internet, or alternatively through a memory stick. There is a de-duplication process at the centralized database (all computerised of course) after which an unique ID number is issued. The client gets a printout of the details at the end of the process.

The former Infosys boss is supremely comfortable explaining the technology. That is unsurprising after his long stint in India's most successful IT company. Given the country's IT expertise should such a project have been conceived many years ago? “ Not really”,says Nilekani, “ The availability of this technology at an...affordable price is a relatively recent phenomenon. In that sense, the timing is perfect.”

But he realises that just having the right technology is not sufficient to roll out a project of this scale. “What we need to do is create an appropriate ecosystem”, says Nilekani, by which he basically means getting the incentives right for all those involved in the project. “Our team has spent much of the last year thinking this through”, he adds.

He explains there will essentially be a four-tier structure that will govern the actual handing out of UID numbers. At the Centre, there is the UIDAI, which is responsible for coordinating the whole exercise. The UIDAI will certify all the technology used across the country, and will hand out numbers from its centralised database. Operationally, it is the state governments that will take charge, and therefore have ownership of the project, on the ground. An important part of getting the ecosystem right. States, after all, often view central government programmes with suspicions if they do not have a genuine stake in them.

At level three, the state governments will work with authorised registrars (agencies of the state government like the PDS or NREG) who actually need the UID data for a particular purpose. At level four are the enrollment agencies (can be either privately or publicly owned, or even NGOs) that will actually collect the data. At the moment, the UIDAI has empanelled 220 enrollment agencies across the country.

The enrollment agencies are each required to buy the kit for collecting and transferring the data. "The equipment requires an investment of Rs 2 lakh. The cost will come down as competition and innovation among the suppliers increases,” says Nilekani. There are already multiple certified suppliers for each of the eight pieces of equipment, eschewing the kind of favourtism that usually goes on within the government system in awarding such contracts to a monopoly supplier. The UIDAI is willing to certify as many more technically qualified suppliers to make the system completely open to competitive forces---an important part of creating an appropriate ecosystem.

What is in it for all the agencies that have signed up to enroll people? After all, they have to spend Rs 2 lakh just to get the equipment. They actually have to spend even more because as Nilekani points out, the UIDAI requires them to get their operators...trained and certified by one among a number of training agencies in turn certified by the UIDAI. “Right now the empanelment of the training agencies is done. It was done through an open process,” says Nilekani. Enrollment agencies of course have a choice will come down as to send their operators to the one giving them the best deal.

So, how do they make their profit? “The UIDAI will reimburse the Registrars at Rs 50 per person enrolled. We have a budget to enroll 100 million people.” says Nilekani. Do the states simply pass on this Rs 50 per person to the enrollment agency?

“Not necessarily. The registrar has the option of hiring any one of the 220 empanelled agencies to do their work. The state government can call for open bids and award contracts to those who offer the best terms,” says Nilekani. Another key element of getting the ecosystem right.

The UID is probably the one government scheme where every attempt as been made to align incentives in a position to promote efficiency and quality, just like in competitive free markets. Nandan Nilekani has clearly brought more than just technical expertise to his task in government. ...