March 11, 2014 11:28 pm
SUMMARY
Aadhaar’s future looks uncertain. The next government should recognise its radical potential.
Aadhaar’s future looks uncertain. The next government should recognise its radical potential.
With over 60 crore enrolments and counting, Aadhaar, the UPA’s ambitious unique ID, is on a roll. It has grown at remarkable speed in the last five years, despite all the obstructions placed in its way. Now, as the government winds down and UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani quits — he will now run for the Lok Sabha election — its future looks uncertain again, given that it still does not have statutory backing and can be undone by the next government.
With a unique 12-digit number that can be used to call up basic demographic and identity information through biometric scans, the government aimed to guarantee every resident an acknowledged existence, ensure that no one is locked out of social entitlements for the lack of a scrap of official paper.
It hoped to ensure sharper targeting of welfare programmes, minimise leakages and collapse the many cumbersome IDs currently in use. But for all its manifest benefits, it has been bitterly resisted across the spectrum since its inception in 2009.
Privacy activists have raised alarms, saying it could give the state too much surveilling power or be usurped by commercial interests. Others have said that because it encompasses all residents, it would blur the lines between citizens and illegal migrants. It has been accused of duplicating the efforts of the National Population Register.
The parliamentary standing committee on finance headed by Yashwant Sinha kept the UID bill hanging, and then the Supreme Court handed it the biggest blow, saying it could not be made compulsory for public benefits or schemes, even as the government was busy planning a shift to Aadhaar-enabled cash transfers.
While the court was right in stressing that Aadhaar should not serve as a pretext for exclusion, the judgment made it harder to widen the network of Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.
But these glitches should not distract from the surpassing utility of Aadhaar. Apart from helping keep government spending honest and accurate, it could make all the difference in financial inclusion, for instance, as electronic KYCs and micro-ATMs take banking to remote corners. Instead of discarding it as Nilekani’s or the UPA’s project, the next government should give it a fair chance to stabilise and start demonstrating its uses.