Friday, March 1, 2013

3094 - PITCH FOR AADHAR - NAC’s belated caveat




IT is of lesser moment whether the Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council has eventually lent its support to the Common Unique Identification programme, documented by the national government with the Aadhar card and buttressed with Nandan Nilekani’s power-point presentation on Tuesday.  The NAC’s belated word of caution that the government and the Planning Commission ought not to rush with the project is suggestive of the inherent shortcomings that appear to have been glossed over.  Indeed, it is the fundamental premise that can be faulted and not merely by the BPL category. 

The access to public services, most importantly food and fuel though for now beyond the ambit, cannot be determinant on one’s ability to flaunt the Aadhar card.  It has to be determined by the government’s ability to deliver life’s essentials to the people. That failure, on occasions leading to violent disaffection, cannot be airbrushed with yet another identity document and a bank account. Of course, some proof of identity is essential to guard against impersonation and misappropriation.  Yet diversion of subsidised commodities is a reality despite the “I the Indian” documents. The target group is not at fault; it is the government’s delivery mechanism that has gone haywire.

For all the power-point presentations, the fancy project has thus far covered a very limited number of states and, therefore, only a fraction of the populace. The reach of banking, more than decades after nationalisation, has been woefully insufficient. In the net, the concept of direct transfer of cash subsidy to individual bank accounts becomes less than feasible. 

The NAC functions as an adjunct to the government, but it has been realistic enough with its timely caveat ~ “Many states are not ready for it. Not everyone has a bank account.” 

The fundamental pre-requisites, therefore, need to be in place more urgently than whether a Bill should strengthen the programme launched by the Unique Identification Authority of India. To argue that the Aadhar card is essential if the people are to avail of welfare handouts is to proceed from conclusion to premise. The second has been overshadowed by the bureaucratic embroidery. Tuesday’s interaction has served to highlight the disconnect.

Finally it isn’t the poor alone who face Aadhar travails. For instance, the card has been made an essential in Delhi for conveyancing, without acknowledging that parties to a property transaction might live in states where the card hasn’t reached. Such thoughtlessness adds to the woes and the anger of citizen.