The recently constituted Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is the nodal body that has been tasked with the ambitious project of giving every resident of India, a unique identification number in the next few years.
DARE caught up with the Director General and Mission Director, Ram Sewak Sharma, to get an idea of what the project entails and the business opportunities it offers.
Why do we need another identity number?
There are two lines of thought that have led to this scheme being envisaged. The first says that national security is of paramount concern and the other talks of developmental schemes getting due importance. The development view says that we need targeted subsidies so that they reach deserving citizens. Across the subsidy system, whether it is the public distribution system (PDS) or schemes to subsidize people below the poverty line, there is massive duplication and lots of fake names that are a part of the database, something which leads to mis-targeting. The UID will essentially seek to address the issue of authentication of information related to an individual by ensuring the existence of a person and the uniqueness of his identity. This essentially means that the UID will make sure that there is only one real person behind an identity.
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| Ram Sewak Sharma |
How would you seek to ensure the uniqueness of an identity of a real individual? How would the process of authentication be carried out? Would you collate all the existing data and streamline the same?
We will use biometric tools to ensure the identity. Biometric technologies involve techniques that recognize the face, finger prints, iris, etc of a person, which are unique to every individual. We will match the data collected, pertaining to an individual with the existing data and match the two. At the same time, the biometric data collected for every individual will be added to the said database to ensure its validity and uniqueness and generate a new ID for the person concerned. Our method of biometrics is a means to end the duplication. A committee under the chief of the National Informatics Center (NIC) is working on devising the exact process of biometrics. Another important point deals with what information to collect. Thus far, we have decided to collect only demographic details of a person. This means we will have his name, date of birth, gender, parents’ names, permanent address, current address, biometrics, etc and no information on religion, caste, ethnicity, etc will be a part of the UID. The number thus generated, will be random and will not have any intelligence built into itself, like a pin code does.
The process of verification is also being worked on by a committee under N Vittal, former Chief Vigilance Commissioner, and we will have a clear-cut idea in the due course of time. The possibility of mixing and merging the existing data streams was considered. But again, the lack of biometric authentication and contamination of the same limits this possibility. So, such databases may be used for the process of verification, but not for primary collation of data. The census department is carrying out a national population registration exercise. They will also be a major source of data for the UID.
Considering the fact that there is a multiplicity of databases already in existence, why could you not make the passport number or election ID card number as the UID and make the possession of such an ID compulsory?
There are two problems with such an approach. First, none of these systems cover the entire population. Secondly, these systems are already infected with a lot of duplication and with fakes. Moreover, the focus of this project is inclusive. We want to provide IDs to people who are marginalized and poor and do not as yet have a proof of identity. Also, we wanted a mechanism that would authenticate the identity online, say, via a mobile phone or any handheld portable device, which might allow for biometric authentication. So, we are coming up with a way in which you do not need to carry any physical document and yet can be authenticated very cheaply.
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| The authentication will essentially be a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ process. That is to say that a private agency will come to us with a UID and the details of the person, and all we will tell them is whether the data is correct or not. So, there will be no transfer or sale of data to a private agency. |
Would the UID be integrated with the National ID card project that is currently on a pilot basis?
We are not looking into the issue of nationality or citizenship. We are basically issuing these numbers to the residents of India. Non-citizen residents in India will also be eligible for a UID. The UID will per se not be a proof of nationality. It, therefore, does not confer you any right or title of any kind nor does it make you automatically eligible for any government scheme.
Would it therefore be similar to the Social Security Number (SSN) of the United States?
In the sense that any resident person can get it, certainly there is a parallel with the SSN. But it is different from the SSN because the SSN does not have biometric authentication.
Where all would the UID essentially be used? Would it eventually be mandated for every resident Indian?
For us, it is a demand-driven situation and as far as we are concerned, we are not mandating it. Right at the outset, we cannot obviously exclude anyone. Having said that, domain agencies like banks, insurance companies, gas companies, etc might eventually mandate it over time.
What is the total scale of business generation that you see happening out of this project? When does the process of tendering contracts out to private companies begin?
I cannot talk of figures at this stage, but I can see that this will tremendously save costs, as cost of verification will come down drastically. Further, it will expedite and accelerate business processes where personal verification of data is required. LPG connections that are black-marketed cost the exchequer a whopping Rs 1,600 crore a year; those costs can be saved. As for tendering, only one major procurement will take place, which is setting up the data center, but that process will be worked out at a later date. We will have the main data center at New Delhi and there will be a disaster recovery center, probably at Bangalore. This center will be a repository of all the data collected, as that is the only way we can ensure online real-time authentication.
Apart from that, processes related to collection and processing of data will generate business opportunities say for manufacturers of biometric devices, but that per se is not within the purview of the UIAI. So, a major part of the contracting will be done by a partnering institution, like
the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC), which will collect its clients’ data.
Since you will be partnering with private companies, how would you ensure data security? Would countervailing clauses be built into the service level agreements to ensure that?
As I mentioned, we have not worked out such details. The data of course will be kept very secure and will not be shared with any external agency. The authentication will essentially be a ‘yes’ and ‘no’ process. That is to say that a private agency will come to us with a UID and the details of the person, and all we will tell them is whether the data is correct or not. So, there will be no transfer or sale of data to a private agency. Even during the process of authentication, no data will be downloaded anywhere outside our data center.
When do you start rolling the first numbers out?
The first numbers should start rolling out in 12 to 18 months starting August 15, 2009.
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written by Partha Mitra, December 19, 2009
Partha Mitra
Kolkata , West Bengal, pmitra@rediffmail.com
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w'll this proj can make our system more stronger...if they think something beyond jst giving a unique identity...i remember when i was in my diploma - computer technology, i thought abt this kind of system, though i dnt knw this system in detail, i can't say itz nothing else but providing a unique number.
suggesstion frm my side :
a database, which logs each n everything right from our birth to death.
a child born a UID is generated.
- to get admission in school UID databse shud be filld by the school detail
- goes to college - again dbase should be filld by coll details
- get a job, details including salary etc should be loggd.
-medical details
-if loan paid on time, person credit increase, or if any fraud done, person credit gets low
- crime record.
etc etc.
this credential w'll help the system to be vo transparent for e.g
- keeping track of income tax
- medical history
- b4 giving a loan, person credit shud be checkd.
all in all... a full life record of a human shud be trackd.:)
wht say...was jst an suggesstion..may be not feasible, just thought to share it...