Friends,
Beside Six coastal Districts in Orissa the UIDAI Project is launched to deprive Fifty Crore Indigenous, Aboriginal, Slum Dog, Underclass, Underprevilleged, Calamity as well as Holocaust and Partition Victim refugees.
Meanwhile, the West Bengal Government has constituted Seven Member Cabinet Committe to implement the Economic Ethnic Cleansing Agenda. In Bengal, most of the Refugee Colonies stand UNAUTHORISED as OBC and ST and Minority Communities have no rights as the SC Communities and the Refugees Never had. During last Assmbly Elections 23 lac names were deleted from the Voter list and had been Branded as doubtful bangladeshi Immigrants. The Black Untouchable Population is quiet Unaware and Unorganised for this Calamity Tsunami.
Please help us in Awakening and Mobilisation !
Palash Biswas
- Notification - Constituting the Unique Identification Authority of India
- Notification of appointment of Nandan Nilekani as the Chairman of UIDAI
- Notification of Nandan Nilekani assuming charge as Chairman of UIDAI
- Creating a unique identity for every resident in India - Draft approach
The UIDAI will be putting in place a team both from the public and private sectors. Please see below for opportunities in the UIDAI.
UID Project Management Unit (PMU) Positions
PMU Head
Senior Manager (Project Management & Monitoring)
Manager (Monitoring & Coordination)
Manager (Knowledge Management)
Senior Manager (Financial & Contracts Management)
Manager (Contracts & Procurement)
Senior Manager(Process & Operations)
Manager (Process)
Manager (Capacity Building)
Manager (Human Resources)
Human Resources Executive
Manager (Technology)
Technical Assistants
The UIDAI is based on the premise that the de-duplication would be the basis of the UID approach. This would be achieved by the use of biometrics.This requires high technological intervention and success. To achieve this and to obtain the best possible inputs on biometric technology a Biometrics Committee has been set up headed by the Director General of NIC, Dr. B.K. Gairola.
The UIDAI also believes that the verification process to get a UID number should be simple and not prone to harassment at the same time be credible. As the main purpose of the UID is inclusion, especially of the poor, the verification process has to be formulated in such a manner that while it does not compromise the integrity of the inputs, it also does not result in exclusion of the poor. A Demographic and Data Field Verification Committee has been set up under Shri Vittal the former CVC of India to address these issues.
The Demographic Data Standards and Verification procedure Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri N.Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner submitted its final report on 9th December, 2009. It was submitted to Shri Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI.
Comments and suggestions for implementation of the report are most welcome.
The Demographic Data Standards and verification procedure Committee Final Report.The Biometric Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri B.K.Gairola, DG, NIC submitted its final report to the UIDAI on 7th January, 2010. The UIDAI has accepted the standards and best practises suggested by the Committee for face, finger prints and iris. The UIDAI, after taking all relevant factors into consideration, has also decided that all three biometrics attributes of residents viz. face, all ten fingerprints and bot iris images will be collected during the enrolment process into the UID system.
The Office Memorandum from the UIDAI accepting the report is herewith attached.
Biometrics Report submitted to UIDAI
Demographic Data Standards and Verification procedure Committee Report
Shri N.Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, submits Demographic Data Standards and Verification procedure Committee Report to Shri Nandan Nilekani
The UIDAI is based on the premise that the de-duplication would be the basis of the UID approach. This would be achieved by the use of biometrics.This requires high technological intervention and success. To achieve this and to obtain the best possible inputs on biometric technology a Biometrics Committee has been set up headed by the Director General of NIC, Dr. B.K. Gairola.
The UIDAI also believes that the verification process to get a UID number should be simple and not prone to harassment at the same time be credible. As the main purpose of the UID is inclusion, especially of the poor, the verification process has to be formulated in such a manner that while it does not compromise the integrity of the inputs, it also does not result in exclusion of the poor. A Demographic and Data Field Verification Committee has been set up under Shri Vittal the former CVC of India to address these issues.
The Demographic Data Standards and Verification procedure Committee constituted under the Chairmanship of Shri N.Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner submitted its final report on 9th December, 2009. It was submitted to Shri Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI.
Comments and suggestions for implementation of the report are most welcome.
The Demographic Data Standards and verification procedure Committee Final Report.The Biometric Committee under the Chairmanship of Shri B.K.Gairola, DG, NIC submitted its final report to the UIDAI on 7th January, 2010. The UIDAI has accepted the standards and best practises suggested by the Committee for face, finger prints and iris. The UIDAI, after taking all relevant factors into consideration, has also decided that all three biometrics attributes of residents viz. face, all ten fingerprints and bot iris images will be collected during the enrolment process into the UID system.
The Office Memorandum from the UIDAI accepting the report is herewith attached.
The UIDAI has published its Volunteer and Sabbatical Guidelines, 2009.Those interested can apply by email to webadmin-uidai@nic.in. Kindly mention "Volunteer - UIDAI" or 'Sabbatical-UIDAI" clearly on the subject of the email.
HISTORICAL BACKGROUND
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. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the Government.
a) The concept of a unique identification was first discussed and worked upon since 2006 when administrative approval for the project –"Unique ID for BPL families" was given on March 3rd, 2006 by the Department of Information Technology, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. This project was to be implemented by the NIC over a period of 12 months. Subsequently, a Processes Committee to suggest processes for updation, modification, addition and deletion of data fields from the core data base to be created under the Unique ID for BPL families Project was set up on 3rd July 2006. This was set up under the chairmanship of Dr. Arvind Virmani, Principal Adviser, Planning Commission.
b) A "Strategic Vision on the UID Project" was prepared and submitted to this Committee by M/S Wipro Ltd (Consultant for the design phase and program management phase of the Pilot UID project). It envisaged the close linkage that the UID would have to the electoral database. The Committee also appreciated the need of a UID Authority to be created by an executive order under the aegis of the Planning Commission to ensure a pan-departmental and neutral identity for the authority and at the same time enable a focused approach to attaining the goals set for the XI Plan. The Seventh Meeting of the Process Committee on 30th August 2007 decided to furnish to the Planning commission a detailed proposal based on the resource model for seeking its "in principle" approval.
c) At the same time, the Registrar General of India was engaged in the creation of the National Population Registrar and issuance of Multi-purpose National Identity Cards to citizens of India.
d) Therefore, it was decided, with the approval of the Prime Minister, to constitute an empowered group of Ministers (EGoM) to collate the two schemes – the National Population Register under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Unique Identification Number project of the Department of Information Technology. The EGoM was also empowered to look into the methodology and specific milestones for early and effective completion of the Project and take a final view on these. The EGoM was constituted on 4th December, 2006.
a) Initially the UIDAI may be notified as an executive authority and investing it with statutory authority could be taken up for consideration later at an appropriate time.
b) UIDAI may limit its activities to creation of the initial database from the electoral roll/EPIC data. UIDAI may however additionally issue instructions to agencies that undertake creation of databases to ensure standardization of data elements.
c) UIDAI will take its own decision as to how to build the database.
d) UIDAI would be anchored in the Planning Commission for five years after which a view would be taken as to where the UIDIA would be located within Government.
e) Constitution of the UIDAI with a core team of 10 personnel at the central level and directed the Planning Commission to separately place a detailed proposal with the complete structure, rest of staff and organizational structure of UIDAI before the Cabinet Secretary for his consideration prior to seeking approval under normal procedure through the DoE/CCEA.
f) Approval to the constitution of the State UID Authorities simultaneously with the Central UIDAI with a core team of 3 personnel.
g) December 2009 was given as the target date for UID to be made available for usage by an initial set of authorized users.
h) Prior to seeking approval for the complete organizational structure and full component of staff through DoE and CCEA as per existing procedure, the Cabinet Secretary should convene a meeting to finalize the detailed organizational structure, staff and other requirements.
1.1. Subsequently, on 22nd January, 2009 the Cabinet Secretary in pursuance of the decisions of the Empowered Group of Ministers considered the proposal submitted by the Department of Information Technology regarding the governance structure and recommended that
a) The notification for constitution of the UIDAI should be issued immediately.
b) A High Level Advisory, Monitoring and Review Committee headed by Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission to be constituted to oversee the work of the authority.
c) A Member, Planning Commission or the Secretary, Planning Commission may be also assigned the task of looking after the work proposed of the Chief UID Commissioner.
d) Core Team to be put in place.
1.2. In pursuance of the Empowered group of Ministers' fourth meeting dated 4th November, 2008, the Unique Identification Authority of India was constituted and notified by the Planning Commission on 28th January, 2009 as an attached office under the aegis of Planning Commission with an initial core team of 115 officials. The role and responsibilities of the UIDAI was laid down in this notification. The UIDAI was given the responsibility to lay down plan and policies to implement UID scheme and shall own and operate the UID database and be responsible for its updation and maintenance on an ongoing basis.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Prime Minister's Council on UID Authority - Subsequently, on July 2, 2009, the Government appointed Shri. Nandan M. Nilekani as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister for an initial tenure of five years. Mr. Nilekani has joined the UIDAI as its Chairman on 23rd July 2009. The Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority of India was set up on 30th July, 2009. The Council is to advise the UIDAI on Programme, methodology and implementation to ensure co-ordination between Ministries/Departments, stakeholders and partners. The Council would meet once every quarter. The First Meeting of the Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority took place on 12th August 2009.
The salient decisions in the PMs council were as follows :
- Need for legislative frame-work
- Broad Endorsement of the Strategy
- Budgetary Support to partners
- Setting Biometric and Demographic Standards
- UIDAI Structure Contours Approved
- Flexibility in Personnel and other issues:
- Choose, Deploy and Repatriate Officers
- Govt. Accommodation Eligibility
- Broad-banding of posts
- Hiring of professionals from Market
- Setting up of Global Advisory Councils of PIOs
- Interns and Sabbatical
- Global Procurement
Cabinet Committee on UID Authority – The Government of India issued orders constituting the Cabinet Committee on UID Authority on October 22nd, 2009. It is headed by the Honourable Prime Minister and consists of the Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Law and Justice, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Minister of Labour and Employment, Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism. The Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Chairman UIDAI are special invitees. The functions of the Committee, which is headed by the H'ble PM would be as under :
All issues relating to the Unique identification Authority of India including its organisation, plans, policies, programmes, schemes, funding and methodology to be adopted for achieving the objectives of that Authority.RECENT DEVELOPMENTS
Prime Minister's Council on UID Authority - Subsequently, on July 2, 2009, the Government appointed Shri. Nandan M. Nilekani as Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister for an initial tenure of five years. Mr. Nilekani has joined the UIDAI as its Chairman on 23rd July 2009. The Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority of India was set up on 30th July, 2009. The Council is to advise the UIDAI on Programme, methodology and implementation to ensure co-ordination between Ministries/Departments, stakeholders and partners. The Council would meet once every quarter. The First Meeting of the Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority took place on 12th August 2009.
The salient decisions in the PMs council were as follows :
- Need for legislative frame-work
- Broad Endorsement of the Strategy
- Budgetary Support to partners
- Setting Biometric and Demographic Standards
- UIDAI Structure Contours Approved
- Flexibility in Personnel and other issues:
- Choose, Deploy and Repatriate Officers
- Govt. Accommodation Eligibility
- Broad-banding of posts
- Hiring of professionals from Market
- Setting up of Global Advisory Councils of PIOs
- Interns and Sabbatical
- Global Procurement
Cabinet Committee on UID Authority – The Government of India issued orders constituting the Cabinet Committee on UID Authority on October 22nd, 2009. It is headed by the Honourable Prime Minister and consists of the Minister of Finance, Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, Minister of Home Affairs, Minister of External Affairs, Minister of Law and Justice, Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Minister of Labour and Employment, Minister of Human Resource Development, Minister of Rural Development and Panchayati Raj, Minister of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation and Minister of Tourism. The Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Chairman UIDAI are special invitees. The functions of the Committee, which is headed by the H'ble PM would be as under :
All issues relating to the Unique identification Authority of India including its organisation, plans, policies, programmes, schemes, funding and methodology to be adopted for achieving the objectives of that Authority.LEGISLATION
LEGAL FRAMEWORK
Framework – The UIDAI would be set up under a Statutory authority. The UIDAI is in the process of drafting a legislation for this purpose.
GUIDELINES
The UIDAI has finalized the Volunteer and Sabbatical Guidelines. They are enclosed below. Those interested can apply by email to webadmin-uidai@nic.in . Kindly mention "Volunteer - UIDAI" or 'Sabbatical-UIDAI" clearly on the subject of the email.
1. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Volunteer Guidelines, 2009
2. UIDAI Guidelines for recruitment of personnel on Sabbatical/SecondmentABOUT THE DIRECTOR GENERAL
The Chief Executive Officer of the Project i.e. Director General and Mission Director has been appointed. Mr. R.S. Sharma has been appointed as the first Director General of the UIDAI. He is an Additional Secretary Rank Officer belonging to the 1978 batch of the Indian Administrative Service. He belongs to the Jharkhand Cadre where he has implemented a number of e Governance projects as Principal Secretary of Information Technology Department. He has about six years of service left. (Will superannuate on 31.10.2015)
About UIDAI
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been created as an attached office under the Planning Commission. Its role is to develop and implement the necessary institutional, technical and legal infrastructure to issue unique identity numbers to Indian residents.
On June 25th 2009, the Cabinet also created and approved the position of the Chairperson of the UIDAI, and appointed Mr. Nandan Nilekani as the first Chairperson in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister. Mr. Ram Sewak Sharma has been appointed the Director General.
The Mission
The role that the Authority envisions is to issue a unique identification number (UID) that can be verified and authenticated in an online, cost-effective manner, and that is robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities.
The Timelines
The first UID numbers will be issued over the next 12-18 months counted from August 2009. The first number would be issued between August 2010 to February 2011. Over five years, the Authority plans to issue 600 million UIDs. The numbers will be issued through various 'registrar' agencies across the country.
Creating a unique identity for every resident in India - Draft approach
ORGANISATIONAL STRUCTURE
The UIDAI would be headquartered in Delhi. It would have its Technological Centre in Bangalore. The UIDAI would have 8 regional offices in the country.
UIDAI is of the view that having its offices at each State/UT will thinly spread its man-power and will adversely affect its efficiency and effectiveness. On the other hand, UIDAI will need to have its presence in the field as it cannot work only out of the Headquarters and will require being closer to its partners and State Governments. Hence it has come up with the concept of Regional Offices at eight locations in the Country. The organization structure at the Headquarter level would require a strong team to co-ordinate with the Government of India Ministries, PSUs and other institutions having their headquarters in Delhi. In view of the fact that there will be a lot of interaction at Delhi involving coordination with various PSUs/Ministries of the GOI, especially the ones who will be partnering with UIDAI, it will need senior officers at the headquarters.Headquarter Organisation: The Director General and Mission Director, UIDAI (hereinafter referred to as DG – Additional Secretary level) would head the administrative organization. It is proposed to have 6 Deputy Director Generals (hereinafter referred to as DDG - Joint Secretary Rank). We would also require 3 Directors (Director/Deputy Secretary rank), 3 Deputy Directors, 3 Desk Officers and 3 Assistants for each DDG. The Headquarters would also have a strong Finance Wing headed by a Chief Controller of Accounts (could be designated as DDG (Finance)).
Regional Office Organisation Structure - The organization at the regional office level would be headed by a Deputy Director General (DDG). Hence, we would require 8 DDGs for the regional offices. Each DDG would have 3 Directors, 3 Deputy Directors, 1 SAO and as many Senior Systems Analysts as the number of States/UTs in that region, 3 Desk Officers and 3 Assistants. The Regional Offices will also have a finance wing.
Project Management Unit – There would also be a PMU which would consist of experts in various fields which would be part of the UIDAI team.
| UID: Technology sophistication and challenges |
| "We would have a lot of challenges from the security, technology, implementation side, to some extent even the political side, but if done as planned, it would be worth the effort," says Nilekani |
| CMN Correspondent |
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| Friday, November 13, 2009 |
Describing the roadmap of the UID project, at the Leadership Series - Vision 2020 organized by BangaloreIT.biz here today, Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) said, it is for the first time that such a project is happening in such a large scale.
"We would have a lot of challenges from the security, technology, implementation side, to some extent even the political side, but if done as planned, it would be worth the effort," he said.
The UID is a complex project with technology sophistication and scale of 1.2 billion people. The department would work on private-public partnership (PPP) model for various tasks and process. The UIDAI will be the regulatory authority managing a central ID Data Repository (CIDR) which will issue UID numbers, update resident information and authenticate the identity of the residents as required.
The CIDR will perform a search key demographic field on the biometrics for each new enrollment, to ensure no duplicates exist. It would have a massive de-duplication system in the software so that the individual would have only one chance to submit correct information.
Interestingly, India has a population of superstitious people, who believe in number power. In an answer to that Nilekani said that the UID number will have no intelligence and there won't be any special provision to get a desired number. It would be randomly generated to avoid any security breach.
The department would work on contracts with the agencies to maintain the security of the citizen data and would not allow anyone get the access to data in the online authentication.
The biometric samples would be recorded through mobile phones that have biometric readers and can be worked over low bandwidth platform and open APIs from mobile. The entire system would ensure a robust security system in place for fraud detection, audit trails.
He highlighted that the department would have memory search, online authentication on cloud, optimized network and since the website would be a read only site, it would avoid server lags.
There would be diverse sets of enrolling point, but uniform process and software for the systems.
UIDAI is looking at multiple partnerships like a consultant committee, data standard system, NGO's, legal aid to check the legalities.
According to Nandan Nilekani, the entire roll-out would require massive computational process which is a big challenge.
A game changing scheme
The importance accorded to the Unique Identification (UID) project is reflected in the constitution of a special group of Union Ministers headed by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to oversee its implementation. Some details about this audaciously ambitious project are yet to be finalised, but the broad plan is to cover some 1.2 billion people in the country by allotting each a unique number and creating a data base containing their photographs, biometric information (such a s fingerprints), and a few details such as name, sex, and age. The idea of a unique identification system goes back to the National Democratic Alliance government, when Home Minister L.K. Advani proposed the issue of Multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNICs) in 2001. While the MNIC project suffered from the image of being principally a doubtful internal security measure — inspired by such motives as distinguishing illegal Bangladeshi immigrants from Indian citizens — the UID project has been packaged and promoted as primarily a mechanism to improve the delivery of government schemes for the poor and the marginalised. Unlike the MNIC scheme, the UID will comprise a number and not a card; will be available to all residents and not only citizens; and will be demand-driven as opposed to mandatory (although this does not preclude government agencies at the Central and State level from mandating enrolment).
With proper implementation, the transformative potential of the UID scheme in enhancing access to government services should not be underestimated. In becoming a single source of identity verification, it could enable the easier roll-out of wide number of services such as bank accounts, passports, driving licences, and LPG connections. Proof of identity and greater financial inclusion could lay the basis for checking fraud and corruption, avoiding duplication and targeting intended beneficiaries in a range of programmes such as the NREGS and the PDS. The attendant risks of such a potentially game-changing scheme — which include risks or hacking, privacy invasion, and the possible misuse of information by a future 'Orwellian' government — are real. The UID project should be open to wide public debate and Nandan Nilekani, the former co-chairman of Infosys who heads the Unique Identification Authority of India, has made a good start by seeking opinions, allaying apprehensions, and discussing details of the project with a wide section of people in government and civil society. He has the ability to draw the best IT talent required to implement a project that could set a new paradigm for government service delivery. What it needs is a legal framework that enables the creation of a unique identity system with adequate safeguards to protect privacy and confidentiality.
http://www.hindu.com/2009/11/13/stories/2009111355120800.htm
Giving Indians an identity
 NANDAN NILEKANI: The author was one of the founders of Infosys and its co-chairman till joining government earlier this year as chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India | |||||||||||||||
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This pro-technology mindset that cuts across income groups and communities may seem curious in a developing country such as ours. One cause for our positive attitude may be the unique role that information and communication technology (ICT) has played in India. For us, technology has been a source of reform and empowerment, a way out of entrenched, difficult-to-navigate institutions . This has held true since 1984, when a reformist Indian government, led by the youngest prime minister in Indian history, turned to technology to implement its propoor agenda. Rajiv Gandhi railed against "the brokers of power and influence" that dominated India's economic institutions, and saw technology as a way to loosen their hold.
What followed, among other initiatives, was the public call office model, implemented by Sam Pitroda , which transformed access to telecom in the mid-1980 s, and established technology in a now familiar role - as a means of enabling greater access to resources and services at lower costs.
WONDER OF ELECTRONIFICATION
The most noticeable impact of electronification has been in expanding the circles of access within the economy. The transition that technology has helped enable in India fits into economist Douglass North's description of the shift of a limited access economy - where access to resources is controlled by a small group of elites - to an open access model, where resources and skills are widely attainable.
The economic structure until the 1980s in India was a restrictive one, where government and an oligopolistic market controlled much of the resources through a licensing system, state-dominated production and centralised institutions. Entry costs into the economy were high - access to resources such as finance, subsidies and business licenses were restricted to those who had patronage networks. Access depended on 'who one was, and who one knew' .
Technology has played a crucial role alongside reforms since then, in expanding circles of access. It has enabled India to move from markets where access to resources and institutions was limited - such as stock markets where trading was controlled by brokers, and agricultural supply chains where crop prices were determined by middlemen - to democratised, open access systems that have empowered individuals. Electronic stock markets have allowed individuals to execute their trading orders from anywhere in the country, and widespread access to mobile phones has meant farmers can call up mandis to negotiate prices.
The impact of technology on our institutions and markets has been most apparent in the way it has helped disseminate economic power, by bringing information to poor and rural communities. Information asymmetries are quickly vanishing - one NGO worker recently described how at a village self-help group meeting, a farmer checked an SMS on his mobile phone and told the meeting that a Bollywood superstar had taken ill - information he received at the same time it was being broadcast by news channels . The impact of such instant information access cannot be underestimated: by connecting more people to information and knowledge sources, we are creating a cycle of innovation and productivity.
THE CHALLENGE OF IDENTITY
One piece of technology is turbo-charging electronification in India - the mobile phone. It has dramatically brought down the costs of plugging into the information network. As device costs continue to fall, we can envision the possibility of a smart phone in every village in the next decade, and in the hands of every Indian in the next fifteen years. We can expect that in less than this time, connectivity will be pervasive. In the near future, we will have unprecedented, universally accessible computing power, which can tap into information flows across a ubiquitous network.
We have to build the tools to take advantage of this emerging reality. Even though ICT infrastructure has expanded rapidly over the last decade, we are yet to leverage it fully. The impact of telecom access in India for example, has remained limited to the access and delivery of information. Using the mobile phone for transaction and delivery of services such as banking has remained largely untapped.
A challenge we face in such service delivery is tackling risks that have emerged with open access systems. In economies with limited access, transactions depend on organised relationships, face-to-face interaction, identity verification and patronage networks . Anonymity is low, and systemic trust - a prerequisite for transactions - is easier to enforce.
Open access systems, however, come with greater anonymity. Service providers can't automatically trust individuals, since they have no history of business with them, and poor customers also often lack identity documentation. Remote transactions complicate these challenges further. Consequently, service providers now spend large amounts of money on KYC - know your customer - processes to ensure that the transaction with the customer is a safe one.
POSSIBILITIES OF UID
The UID number, with its 'anytime, anywhere' biometric authentication, addresses the problem of trust within a transaction for both face-to-face and remote service delivery. Making identity easy to verify brings down the risks associated with enabling open access systems. The UID's online verification can also make geographical distances irrelevant to delivery of services. The ability of individuals to prove their identity anywhere in the country becomes valuable as migration and urbanisation intensify.
The UID allows agencies across a variety of sectors , such as banking and finance, to provide remote services. Removing the need for multiple verification processes reduces costs for service providers. Additionally , replacing brick and mortar infrastructure with low-cost technology applications will lower transaction costs even further. By facilitating such remote, easy verification of identity, the UID number becomes the glue for service providers to bring together existing technologies and create end-to-end , low-cost , electronified models, where individuals can transact with micro amounts - as small as Rs 10 - equipped with little more than a mobile phone.
Such a low-cost , accessible model would be inclusive , bringing millions into India's burgeoning economy. As the UID network becomes ubiquitous, the applications on top of it will increase, expanding into a variety of services.
The UID opens up a vast array of new possibilities for our technological future, and offers a foundation on which a host of applications can be built. For example , the UID number of each resident can be linked to a bank account through which the government can provide direct services, such as health and education, through digital vouchers and cash benefits . Such service delivery also enables governments to establish relationships directly with individuals, rather than interest groups. The increased negotiating power this enables for individuals will mean fairer , more transparent public delivery systems and stronger, more enforceable rights.
The implementation of UID comes even as demand for electronification in India is increasing. Until the 1980s, the infrastructure focus of Indian governments used to be on providing basic necessities - roti, kapda aur makan (food, clothes and house). Since reforms in the 1990s, the emphasis moved to broader, community infrastructure - bijli , sadak, pani (electricity, roads, water). Today, people's aspirations have shifted to 'mobile, bank account, UID' . The demand is for infrastructure that empowers the individual, and provides economic opportunity.
The UID is soft infrastructure, much like mobile telephony, internet connectivity and financial access, important to connect individuals to the broader economy, and critical for people to leverage opportunity and access.
IMPLICATIONS OF ACCESS
The impact of the falling transaction and entry costs that accompany electronification and UID has long-term implications for our growth. Economies become more efficient as transaction and entry costs move towards zero. These falling costs are important drivers for development and equitable growth thanks to the higher impact of every rupee spent in the economy. Additionally, lowering these costs means greater inclusion as more people can afford to participate in our markets and institutions.
Such inclusion will intensify competition, motivating us towards innovation and new ideas. The 'platform' nature of UID - where its identity systems enable a variety of applications - can become a potent source of empowerment for the individual, as individuals, businesses and governments build applications suited to local needs and innovation.
I believe that we are now at a transformational moment, where the immense potential of these technologies is becoming clear. Aided by technology , we are moving from an economy that constrains access to goods and services, to one where access is democratised, open and inclusive.
India may be uniquely destined to leverage technology in a multitude of ways. Electronification triggered enormous changes in the US and Europe - countries that saw these technologies emerge late in their development - and intersected with their development arc at a time when traditional infrastructure and business models were well entrenched.
In India, the arc of technology is intersecting with the developmental arc at an early stage. India is not yet a 'settled in' economy: Our market systems are a little more than a quarter of a century old, and our infrastructure and supply chains are yet to be established. We have the opportunity to leverage technology far more ambitiously and intensively , and build truly inclusive, transformational infrastructure and institutions. Electronification can play a big part in determining the kind of society we are going to be over the next decade.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Giving-Indians-an-identity-/articleshow/5379692.cms
Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani admits that technology is a key challenge in rolling out the world's biggest UID project
Published on 11/18/2009 - 13:51:14 PM
Infosys' success story has become a legend in India's corporate history. And the key writer of the story Nandan Nilekani is now busy writing another story—of India's Unique ID project. Chosen by the Government of India to lead the project, Nandan has chalked out a clear roadmap to reach the goal. In an interview with Pravin Prashant and Shubhendu Parth he shares his priorities and plans of the project.You have moved from writing about India's urgent need for an ICT enabled national ID card in your book Imagining India to now being at the helm of affairs driving the project. How do you plan to translate your imagination into a reality?
I have planned a very systematic hassle-free approach to complete the marathon task. Next 12-18 months are crucial for us to make administrative structure and central IT infrastructure working to its fullest capacity. During this period we will partner with a few registrars across the country to begin initial enrolment—for which standard guidelines for the technologies and infrastructure to be adopted by them to ensure error –free enrolment avoiding duplication and verification of residents, have been spelt out.
We will expand our partnerships with registrars as we build scale. We plan to issue the first UID number in next 12-18 months and cover 600 million in the next five and half years.
The unique ID project has been there for long, but failed to take off due to some reason or the other. What are the top three challenges that you see in rolling out the mega project?
The key challenge we face in implementing the project is not political or social, but technological. The largest biometric project prior to the UID initiative built a database of 100 million people. Our scale will be ten times that, and this creates new challenges in speed, de-duplication and information recovery.
We will also face some challenges in reaching the UID number to every resident across the country. We are shaping our approach so that we can bring the number even to people in marginalised communities. Special focus will be given to reach them.
Unique Identity Number (UIN) will provide significant savings to national exchequer. What's the total saving India can make once UIN is allocated to 600 million people?
Though no exact estimation of the savings can be made at this juncture, I believe that the money saved by using UID would be substantial to plug the leakages in the system. It would lead to better targeting of the individual benefits and will ensure that those entitled to get the benefit actually get it.
Talking about the technology intervention in the government sector, you had said in your book that the new systems cannot be built over a 'creaky base'. How do you define this 'creaky base' and how bad do you think is the situation from the end result or good governance perspective? What do you think needs to be done to streamline the processes?
I think that technology should indeed be implemented with caution, especially when we are building it over existing systems. The challenge for country's governance system has been that we have long lacked the tools to target public funds more effectively, and prevent their leakage.
For example, when it comes to welfare, direct benefits—where subsidy benefits are given directly to an individual's bank account—are far less prone to leakage compared to indirect subsidies. But India lacks the infrastructure in financial access and services to implement such a direct benefit approach. This has begun to change only recently, with mobile and online banking, and with the growth of microfinance institutions.
Now that we have the technology infrastructure available to implement better and more direct welfare programs, we can't build such technology over the existing models—the 'creaky base' that we had to contend with when we lacked better tools.
For example, with the UID number, we decided that we cannot use the existing government databases for collecting resident information, because they were collected without the de-duplication tools and biometric technology we now have.
What will be the administrative structure of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)?
The UIDAI would have its headquarters in Delhi, Technology Centre in Bangalore and eight regional offices in the country. Regional offices at Delhi, Chandigarh, Lucknow, Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati, Bangalore and Hyderabad would have Assistant Director Generals. Besides, Deputy Director Generals would be posted at Lucknow, Mumbai, Ranchi, Guwahati and Bangalore. The UIDAI would recruit people both from the public service as well as the private sector. The teams would be in place in the next six months.
To manage Central ID Data Repository (CIDR)—which is one of the complex tasks performed by any computing system on the earth—is the most challenging task for the UIDAI. CIDR will also perform online authentication of identity on key demographic fields and biometrics for each new enrollment, to ensure that no duplicates exist. Any thoughts on how you plan to move on the CIDR implementation and online authentication and the technology best suited for this purpose?
The technology design is at a very early stage. We plan to use the best biometrics, storage and de-duplication technologies available, but it is too early to specify those.
Have you finalised on the type of biometric information you plan to collect from individuals? What would be modus operandi for feeding them into the CIDR systems? What are you planning to do in cases where a person does not possess such biometric features?
We are considering a range of biometric options at this point, including fingerprint and iris scan. We will also build enough redundancy into the system in case biometric features such as fingerprints are completely unavailable. The UIDAI has set up a Biometric Committee to recommend the standards for the use of biometrics. Exceptional cases will require special handling and care will be taken to handle such cases.
What is the age group applicability for UIN? Have you finalised on number of digits for UIN and what does each digit or group of digit signify?
The UID number will be accessible to anyone who is a resident of India, including infants. In the case of infants and very small children whose biometrics—fingerprints —are not fully formed, we would take their parent's fingerprint and UID number as part of the record.
The UID will most likely be a 16 digit number (12 + 4), with check code digits at the end. The number will be a random number, so the digits will not signify anything. This is to ensure that the number cannot be deduced from the individual's personal information. This will be finalised soon.
Do you foresee entrepreneurs designing specific applications using UIN for different departments and also for private companies on a transaction based model?
Yes, we will not make the information on the database publicly available for security and privacy reasons, but entrepreneurs will be free to build third-party applications which use the individual's UID number with his/her consent.
India will be the first country to implement biometric based UIN for its residents on such a large scale. How is UIDAI planning to move with respect to project implementation?
The scale of the project is indeed unprecedented. To implement it, we'll have access to substantial computing resources across our data centers. We will employ distributed computing and search and indexing mechanisms to retrieve data quickly and respond to identity confirmation and authentication requests. We intend to use the best-in-class technologies when it comes to biometric, storage and search solutions for this project.
UIN will be a massive exercise for the UIDAI. What are the plans on the security aspect to make the system secure proof?
We intend to take specific measures to ensure that the entire UID system is secure. We will have very clear registrar agreements in place on sharing and storage of information, and any agency that fails to follow our security standards while issuing the UID will no longer be a part of the system. All data transferred will be over an encrypted network. Access to the database will be highly restricted, with clear audit trails on information records accessed. We will also have automatic alerts in case of patterns of suspicious access to the database.
Additionally, we will not share or distribute any information we collect on individual residents. If you wish to authenticate someone, and send the Authority the person's name and UID number, our system will only respond with a 'Yes' or a 'No'.
India has a huge number of e-Governance projects to boast of in terms of ICT interventions in the government sector. Do you think these projects are headed in the right direction or are there things that we have missed out in our zeal to look at 'e' as the panacea of all ills?
There have been many ICT interventions that the government has experimented with—some failures, and some admirable successes. A few of these projects did give us a sense of what is possible when it comes to reforming government institutions: the digitisation of the Railway ticketing reservation system is a very good example of how ICT can make a change in governance.
I think the problem the government faced here with the e-Governance projects that didn't work is what I mentioned earlier—the creaky base problem. When implementing e-Governance projects, we must first address the weaknesses of existing systems.
You talked about setting up of a national grid that could enable better coordination and communication between governments and departments. The concept is akin that of the EU, whose Vice-President Siim Kallas and the former President of Slovenia had recently said that "European Union should ensure that all its e-Government services are turned into iGovernment ones". Do you think the time is ripe for India to create a policy framework for 'I' or Integrated Governance through standardisation of processes, platforms and technology?
I think that we are on a path towards better integrated systems and governance, and I believe that the UID number will be important in enabling this. The Authority intends to partner with public agencies across the country. These registrars will all be using the UID number in their databases, and will be adopting our security, enrolment and authentication guidelines. In time as the UID proves effective, I believe that agencies will migrate more closely towards the number and our standards. This will create significant opportunities for governments to streamline processes across agencies, share information, and integrate public programs.
It is strange that most of the e-Gov initiatives in the country revolve around IT and not around communication technologies that certainly have better reach. Why do you think has communication-enabled services lagged behind in the overall e-Gov scheme of things?
I think delivering e-Governance services on mobile phones touches up against issues that do not exist when you deliver such services over the Internet. For example, there are interoperability concerns between different mobile service providers, if applications and services are not universally available. We still lack regulation and clear standards when it comes to financial transactions made over the mobile phone, which complicate e-Payments for government services. Third, there is the usability issue. Complex commands remain a challenge for mobile phones, especially for basic models, and voice technologies are still imperfect.
There seems to be a huge disparity in India—in terms of the growing aspirations of people and the ability of the country to even meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Do you think technology can be leveraged to mitigate these challenges? And how?
Technology can be a valuable tool to build better solutions. It can be a particularly important enabler in accessing scarce resources. For example, in a country where banks still have to reach large parts of rural India, we can use mobile phones and online banking to broaden financial access to the poor. Once that is done, governments have many more options to deliver benefits and social schemes to poor residents.
Technology also has value in building more open institutions, and giving us access to more information. The Internet and the mobile phone have already transformed the lives of India's middle and upper classes, in the access to information.
For poor income groups with scarce resources, such access to information becomes even more valuable. For instance, farmers had information on crop prices across the country and India's National Commodities Exchange enabled them to negotiate prices and sell produce at markets of their choice.
Such access to information has had other effects — it has strengthened overall price setting by markets, and reduced the dominance of a few farming families when it came to setting crop prices.
I think this is where technology can play a critical role in tackling poverty — in the cascading impact it has in opening up and giving the poor entry into our markets and institutions.
http://www.igovernment.in/site/Well-use-best-biometric-storage--search-solns
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Palash Biswas
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http://nandigramunited-banga.blogspot.com/
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