Unique ID

The most exciting news that I have heard this month from back home is the setting up of the Unique ID authority of India. Nandan Nilekani has been appointed as the Chief of the UID Authority in the rank of Cabinet Minister. I shall not dwell much on why I find this one of the most important events in recent times; Apart from the various benefits of Unique ID for a billion Indians explained in various Press Information Bureau releases, there is something very personal about it for me. An old bitter experience when I went to the Malaysian High Commission in Chennai to renew my claim to citizenship. I was about 16 years old. My father was against the idea of retaining Malaysian citizenship. I had a valid Malaysian passport which shows my name with a minor spelling mistake. The future looked really bleak. I wanted to jump ship and make a living abroad. I was asked by the Malay lady at the counter about my Malaysian ID card. I didn’t have one since they were issued after we left Malaysia. She said sorry, you can’t renew your passport. I came away embittered by the experience. I threw away my Malaysian passport and severed my last links to my foreign identity. I was Indian, among teeming millions, where cattle and humans have no ID to tell them apart.

Today I own several identification documents. My driving licence issued by Tamil Nadu government shows my sister’s home address. My passport shows Calcutta address. My PAN card was issued while residing in my first house in Delhi. I have shifted to another place two years ago. My election ID card is new and shows the correct address. Address changes are very difficult to incorporate in any of these documents. You need an electricity bill or telephone bill to prove you reside at a place. Yossarian, (the protagonist in Catch 22) would find many amusing situations in the Indian scramble to establish identity. Even now, it is very difficult to open a bank account with all their KYC norms. This could be a great chance to link them all and establish single point identification. I suppose State Governments have a key role to play.

I have some unsolicited advice to offer. Although there is only about a one in a zillion chance that Nandan Nilekani would read this, let me set it forth. And these have nothing to do with linking of servers, developing software, procurement of hardware, deciding the platform or a million other things on which I possess no competence to offer advice. (Yeah modesty really is my middle name)
a) See no caste/ religion: Our caste and our religion is the cornerstone of our identity in India. Something that we are born with, something over which we had no control: Yet we flaunt it with great pride. We boisterously follow rituals, blare our prayers through loudspeakers and brazenly solicit votes in the name of our religion/ caste. Although it is rather comforting for psephologists, sociologists, political parties and harvesters of souls to have details of breakup of caste & religious denominations right down to the Panchayat level, I think we must resist the temptation to include it in the card. We should not even show SC/ST status in the card. Let the information (on SC/ST status alone) be embedded in the system to enable eligible citizens to receive benefits through public distribution system or free education / medical facilities. Let us be Indians, pure & simple for once. And not be East Indians, South Indians, Kayasths, Muslims, banias, tribals etc
b) Show Mom’s name: Can we have our Mom’s name in the cards? Not that the status of father needs to be relegated. But she carried us, raised us and cried over us. Doesn’t she deserve mention in our identity cards? At least the option to show Mom’s name ought to be given. Expect some political dividends and some brickbats too. It is probably the most natural and rational thing to do. Let political correctness begin from home.
c) Language tangle : A very touchy one. Leave it to poiticos to sort that one out. My advice would be to have the card printed in (maximum) three languages. It sure sounds unwieldy. If three languages in one card are a bit too much to handle, then English and one regional language should suffice. If a village Patwari cannot read the card, then the whole exercise is of no use. Some politicians from North could object to English in the card. Tread carefully. It is a minor political mine field. Let the genial Sardar handle that one.
d) Physical verification: Could we have customer friendly shop fronts which will incorporate changes to address if the individual himself goes and submits changes? For this purpose technology-enabled physical verification might be necessary. We aren’t an evolved society like UK where finger printing, DNA testing or retina scanning of citizens are seen as intrusions into privacy. Let us make it at least easier for those who agree to have their finger prints taken and retinas scanned. I can visualize dissenting voices from troubled regions. Keep the security boogie out of it. Let the law abiding citizen who has no problems with physical identification be given faster and better service.
e) Beware of the babu : I do not mean to denigrate my class. There are very bright ones among us. But we can also be very self-serving, condescending to technocrats and pretentious. Some of us could be very hierarchical in functioning and privilege conscious too. It is difficult for a Dire Straits- listening software professional to get a hang of the Babu work culture. Listen to the Babu, by all means. He has knowledge of the dusty, hot and noisy Indian reality. But when in doubt, trust the instincts of sweaty, grass-root politicians- not the Babu in sanitized, weather-controlled environs. Try to give an autonomous status to employees of the authority and give it a technology intensive, de-bureaucratized work culture. You might get some clues from NSE.
f) Could we have the headquarters of UID Authority in Bangalore? Heh? Heh? or Bombay or Shillong for that matter ? Just a stray thought; a loose cannon. I heard that it will be based in Delhi. Is it too late to change? Hate to see you and UID employees mired in the stifling Delhi culture. Enough of it has rubbed off on me. I am unfit to live in civilized corners of earth.
This mission could be unique, huge and one of its’ kind on earth. The successful implementation of this project could transform our country much the way the use of EVMs transformed our democracy. There are pitfalls ahead. Never before have I so fervently hoped that a Government mission succeeds!!!