Added 11th Feb 2011
ANUP VARIER
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), while addressing the gathering at the NASSCOM India Leadership Forum 2011 described the work that was being done with respect to UID rollouts as an App Store-like platform, and invited technology providers and application developers to come forward and take advantage of the UID platform for the benefit of the masses.
The Unique Identification project was initially conceived by the Planning Commission as an initiative that would provide identification for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services.
Nilekani stressed that social inclusion in its holistic sense is the motive for the mammoth project and pointed out that the technology infrastructure of UIDAI is an open platform to effectuate technology inclusion as well. He suggested that APIs (Application Programming Interface) can be built on top of it, which can be embedded in different applications to offer new services. "So it is up to you to decide how to make use of this ecosystem and bring out innovative applications," he said.
The platform architecture will serve as a foundation for services such as banking, education, telecom and others, he explained. "UIDAI is creating an innovative ecosystem under the project where there will be space for both enterprises and re-engineering public services in future. It can be like an app store for building applications for the Aadhar ecosystem," said Nilekani.
This centralized technology infrastructure of the UIDAI will also enable 'anytime, anywhere, anyhow' authentication through the Aadhar number. Aadhaar, the 12-digit unique number which the UIDAI will issue for all residents, will thus give migrants mobility of identity.