Posted: Fri Dec 03 2010, 02:37 hrs
New Delhi:
After helping several homeless people in Delhi get a Unique Identification or Aadhaar, Nandan Nilekani now aims to provide the service to 600 million people over the next four years.
At the Rajinder Mathur Memorial Lecture on ‘Aadhaar: Its role in inclusion and public service delivery transformation’, organised by Editors’ Guild of India at the India International Centre Annexe, Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nilekani said that through Aadhaar India can finally implement the principle of inclusion, in which every person can have an identity and benefit from government schemes.
The unique identity can solve issues like opening a bank account, getting a telephone connection and meet the growing challenges of migration. “Migration has been increasing and in the coming times it is bound to grow, leading to problems of proving one’s identity. It is hence important to make sure that there is one unique number that attests the person’s identity, no matter which part of the country the person goes to,” said Nilekani.
Nilekani also said Aadhaar will lessen the ‘Circular Documents process’, in which for every licence or registration, different sets of identification is required. “To get a driver’s licence, one needs a ration card. To get some other licence, one needs a birth certificate. It is a circle that continues, leading to inconvenience,” he said.
His lecture about the benefits of the scheme was followed by a question-and-answer session, in which he answered questions on privacy and the feasibility of the scheme in a country of more than a billion people.
New Delhi:
After helping several homeless people in Delhi get a Unique Identification or Aadhaar, Nandan Nilekani now aims to provide the service to 600 million people over the next four years.
At the Rajinder Mathur Memorial Lecture on ‘Aadhaar: Its role in inclusion and public service delivery transformation’, organised by Editors’ Guild of India at the India International Centre Annexe, Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nilekani said that through Aadhaar India can finally implement the principle of inclusion, in which every person can have an identity and benefit from government schemes.
The unique identity can solve issues like opening a bank account, getting a telephone connection and meet the growing challenges of migration. “Migration has been increasing and in the coming times it is bound to grow, leading to problems of proving one’s identity. It is hence important to make sure that there is one unique number that attests the person’s identity, no matter which part of the country the person goes to,” said Nilekani.
Nilekani also said Aadhaar will lessen the ‘Circular Documents process’, in which for every licence or registration, different sets of identification is required. “To get a driver’s licence, one needs a ration card. To get some other licence, one needs a birth certificate. It is a circle that continues, leading to inconvenience,” he said.
His lecture about the benefits of the scheme was followed by a question-and-answer session, in which he answered questions on privacy and the feasibility of the scheme in a country of more than a billion people.
“There are benefits and risks to everything. For example, nuclear energy can be used to generate power as well as to make bombs, but one has to look at the benefits as well,” he said, adding that privacy is maintained in the scheme as very few details about the person are taken into consideration. Nilekani also said that when Aadhaar is implemented in a bigger scale, it will help channelise the Public Distribution System in a better manner. “It will make sure that the benefits are reaching the people it is meant for, since the identity of the person taking the service can be checked online,” he said.