Nandan Nilekani, co-founder and vice chairman of the iconic $ 4.5 billion Infosys Technologies has resigned from the posts of Vice Chairman and Board member of Infosys to head a unique organization – UID (Unique Identity) Authority of India).
UID Authority of India has the ambition to uniquely identify every Indian; with 1.2 billion population, India’s UID is rather complex.
Countries like USA have their SSN (Social Security Number) that was designed a century back. Many counties (both big and small) have similar schemes. I was in Thailand in late 80’s when Thailand initiated such a project. India started very late. Though the idea has been around for several years, it got bogged down with some States not co-operating; these States relied on illegal immigrants to win election often using the bogey that Muslim women do not want to be photographed); techies got bogged down with the “right” smart card technology; and, Election Commission did a great job with EPIC (Electronic Photo Identity Card), but forgot to addresss the “backend” issues.
Nandan is the right person with technology, business and execution skills to execute this mammoth project. Once executed, it can make a huge difference to the country; it could be a technology to break the disease of corruption – the way Railway Reservation project removed bribery to TTE (Traveling Ticket Examiners). UID can also help in targeting subsidies direct to the beneficiery.
Nandan is a tall business leader. Within hours Forbes, New York Times and Reuters carried the news item.
Infosys and Nandan must be complimented for their corporate governance; within hours Nandan resigned from Board Membership and Vice Chairman post of Infosys.
Nandan is
- an outstanding programmer, systems analyst, project manager, CEO and vice chairman of Infosys for the past 27 years,
- a celebrity author who wrote the best selling “Imagining India”, and,
- head of an Authority of the Government with the rank of a Cabinet Minister,
Nandan would be donning every role!
Tags: Forbes, Infosys, Nandan Nilekani heading UID Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani of Infosys, New York Times
June 26, 2009 at 3:44 am
[...] Sadagopan writes about this news on his blog Countries like USA have their SSN (Social Security Number) that was designed a century back. Many [...]
June 26, 2009 at 6:40 pm
“but forgot to addresss the “backend” issues”
Pardon my ignorance sir, but can you tell me what the “backend” issues are? Something got to do with maintaining databases?
June 27, 2009 at 9:41 am
There is database that aggregates all the EPIC cards; many are issued multiple EPIC cards!
The “uniqueness” is missing
If I move from Bangalore to Mangalore I cannot use my EPIC card
These are the “backend” issues I had in mind
Thanks for reading my blog
June 27, 2009 at 11:38 am
Dear all
I must complement Nandan for accepting the challange and wish him goodluck for the same.
I am sure the type of card/identity we are expected to carry you require a personal assistant to remeber all
In Orissa all the 7.4 million rural household-database ,in a particular formate, has been captured and is awailable on the net. NREGA cards were issued almost instantly by using this web-enabled data base and at zero cost to the state wheras many IT-Advanced states spent almost Rs 10 per card and paid crores for this.
I do feel that this database can form basis wherin all other like BPL EPIC Panchayat Voter list ,PAN Vehicle Registration etc can be linked.
I know I am not a tech person but am sure that if it can be done promptly in any state It can be Orissa.
We have done it under the direct supervision of none other than Dr Subas Pani our Chief Secy at that point of time, who certainly a tech-wizard.
Thanks
SN Tripathi secy RD Orissa
June 28, 2009 at 1:58 pm
My EPIC does not have birth date either, It has only Age.
June 28, 2009 at 4:12 pm
Its very interesting to know that America started the SSN about a century back. wow!. Its high time (already very late actually!) we have this done in our country. And who better than somebody like Nandan to head this project.
Since the elections this year, I have been noticing this new trend of the more educated and competent people entering public life. This makes me feel very good; and I am sure this will encourage other well educated and successful professionals in our country to consider a role in politics or some sort of activity that helps a larger cause.
I wrote an article in my blog about all those people who made an attempt by contesting in this year’s elections. Take a look –
http://golumolu.in/blogwp/2009/03/good-people-entering-politics/
June 29, 2009 at 5:51 pm
Yes Sir I agree
It is not the CARD that is important it is the IDENTITY (that can be captured in many ways) that is important
For many people it could be “buried” inside the SIM card of a mobile phone
With Nandan there the “architecture” will be worked out well; the rest is details
Thanks for taking time to read and comment on my blog
July 1, 2009 at 3:53 pm
Thrilled that an able Software Architect has taken over this ambitious program. Every single data in the Card will have to have relevant and updated back end databases and that’s part of the challenge.
One common smart citizen identity card across the nation will help solve many issues the country faces in Security, Healthcare, Pension etc.
As most of our other e-governance and IT automation projects this has the potential to be a show case project for the rest of the world.
We wish Nandan all the very best !
July 5, 2009 at 1:58 am
There are several issues with this concept and plan. 1. I don’t think it makes an iota of difference on India’s affinity to corruption. What’s the connection between UID and corruption? Bribing and accepting bribes is a cultural, political, economic, legal, educational and social issue. Unless Indians by large, authorities (police, courts, other NGOs), educational systems, politicians, the mindset of people changes drastically relating to this issue, it doesn’t matter what schemes India will come up with. 2. India has a very high percentage of uneducated population and I don’t see how most of them will be covered by this scheme or even if they get a smart card, how they will use it. 3. The basic issue is why does India need it? Is it really going to improve the security how are you going to avoid impersonators from making fake UIDs? Is it going to reduce white collar crime – income tax, sales tax avoidance? Is it going to make life of ordinary Indians easy and simple – like getting loans, credit etc.? Doing something for the sake of technology unless all these issues are resolved doesn’t make much sense.
July 5, 2009 at 8:41 am
Thanks for your interest and the trouble taken to comment
UID is NOT about smart card; it is about an architecture to uniquely identify EVERY Indian. It is a basic requirement for any democracy to function
July 5, 2009 at 10:09 am
Thanks for your response. I am not opposed to the concept but it’s not apparent or clear how it will be used and in what way it will contribute to the improve the lives of ordinary Indians.
July 9, 2009 at 2:13 pm
Omissions in the main article:
1. Issues of muslim’s protest in a few states was not the main reason – it was a political reason. The main reason, as on record mentioned to the Home ministry in 2000 was that the framework of the project as developed and approved by the government was analysed to be financially non-viable, and technologically and politically not feasible.
2. The framework recommended to issue National ID Card in english, bypassing Indian languages because latter technology (OCR etc) was not developed at that time. They had forgotten the Rajbhasha Act of 1962, under which the state was bound to issue such document detailes in english as well as in another Indian language. Anyone could have filed a PIL to stop the project as it was.
3. The framework suggested that at least 4 year time was required to implement it under normal pace. They recommended around 15000 franchisee, each with 4 workstations and 4 data-capture operators. Assuming 1 year time for set-up and training, and assuming a adult population of 600 millions during 2001-2003, on average each franchisee will have to capture around 40000 ID Cards in 3 years, or 13333 cards per year, or 1111 cards per month with four operators. Assuming 23.3 working days per month as standard, we get less than 12 cards per operator per day. He will get Rs. 10 for data-capture of each card. So, each operator gets Rs. 120 per cards.
The minimal wages for unskilled labour fixed by the government in general were Rs. 200 per day. So, operators were to get only 60% of the minimal wage – and this was not possible, and perhaps legally not viable in a government project. In the above we have to add franchisee’s own salary, office rent, generators and its running cost in most parts of India, the cost of maintenance of equipment and office, the cost of investment by the franchisee, which the framework concludes to be 1.5 lacs, but a closer scrutiny of hidden costs shows it to be around Rs. 3 lacs, its interest and installments so that it is recovered within 3 years, and the profit at the franchisee level. Further, we have to account for the added cost of skilled labour for data-capture, especially photography and finger-print capture by sophisticated machines. If we add all this, his cost would increase to more than Rs. 35 per card. So, he was getting almost 3 times less than he should have got.
3. The irony is that in comparison to the 1994-95 Seshan’s Voter Card project, the textual data to be entered in the National ID card was 3 times more, scanned items were more than 3 times more, photo was common in both, and a new item of fingerprint capturing was added. In 1994-95 the data capture cost was between Rs. 8-10 in most of the states. Assuming Delhi’s cost of Rs. 8 for data capture, By 2001 price index it would be around Rs. 13. So, the national ID card had allocated 80% less to be paid for date capture, while it had more than 3 times more data to capture. It is clear that the quality of the job was to be poorer than the failed 1994-95 project. So, expect much more than 20% errors found during 1994-95 on average, across the country.
4. Finally, During autumn of 1996, the then acting CEC Krishnamurthy had reported to the TOI that there were more than 20% errors in 1994-95 Seshan’s card project. Since an official document with such huge errors is a waste, the entire project was a grandiose failure.
By that experiment, we find that the National ID card was to be a grandiose failure if implemented along the lines approved by the government.
Since elections were due after 4 years, the government couldn’t pursue it for a possible backlash. Legal hurdles due to Rajbhasha act was another issue.
There were more technological issues.
Conclusions:
What were the reasons for such stupid errors in the government framework?
The first reason was too much dependence upon the NIC, which has been doing very low-level government jobs, and lacks relevant expertise for deriving framework for such a huge project. T.N. Seshan too had implemented his 1994-95 Voter card project after borrowing wisdom from the NIC and a few public sector companies. Even “Typing job” is known to all, and yet they failed to analyze the cost of proof-reading, especially in such a large setup, where the law of large numbers plays vital role. They could have got opinion from the press on their own cost of proof-reading, or from small DTP-shop owners for 100% accurate jobs. Nothing of that sort was done. The terms of 1994-95 Voter-card tenders were incorrect – they asked for biddeers with turnover in several crores, but didn’t ask whether this turnover was in the relavant area of data capture. The turnover must be subject-specific; a great potato-seller doesn’t qualify for voter-card project. Furthet, the bidders subcontracted the data-entry part to small vendors, who also subcontracted it to small DTD-shop owners, small computer institutes, etc. So, the smallest unit which actually performed the job got pennys. They employed inexperienced operators at dismal wages, whence the quality. The operators were forced to correct errors by withholding their money – which was illegal. Under usual rates for typing, no operator or DTP shop owner will guarantee of 100% accuracy. Operator’s speed comes down by 3-4 times if he is to verify each and every word. And yet there would be around 1% errors in words, or by the law of probability 8-9% errors in voter records. Proof-reading is supposed to mbe client’s job in such setup. Or you pay for 100% accuracy, which will increase the cost by at least five time.
Now the data-entry operators, during 1994-95, got 6 paise per citizen, and they were forced to correct the errors by withholding the payments.
The big players got their money, in some cases 10%-20% deducted for poor show, and were on profit.
If a bridge collapses, FIR is lodged against the supervising engineer as well as the contractor. In cases of election commission, no FIR has ever been lodged for such collapse of the entire project and waste of 1000 cr of public money.
Democracy survives due to checks and balances by conscious citizens. In this cases no one bothered about details.
Next thing is secrecy – why the government is not putting the framework and its feasibility report on its website, so that the public can find out where and how the money is to be spent, and whether it is feasible and viable?
The national ID card project was worth Rs. 6000 cr. The UID card is little improved with PKI, but over 9 years the cost of cards have come down drastically. The similar card in the ongoing PAN-card project costs Rs. 67 each. Though salary have increased, the cost centre lies in technology – the card, and centralized printing, and the latter has come down. So, the overall total cost, including the cost due to 20% population growth, shouln’t exceed 50%. Before the final government’s announcement, some sections of the media, after talking to the potential bidders, estimated the cost to be Rs. 10000 cr. So, how did the government come to the figure of 150,000 cr?
Finally, in Oct 2000, the then PM had announed that they will go for pilot in 8 cities. The framework of the project had recommended for a pilot in a city/state of at least the size of Delhi.
Till date there has not been any pilot on such a size. Without such testing, how could the government be sure of financial viability and technical feeasibility?
July 13, 2009 at 11:43 pm
I must complement Nandan for accepting the challange and wish him goodluck for the same.
I think this ie very very extensive job and I suuggest it should have smart chip on which datas (like qualification, marital status, change in address etc) of individuals can be updated. In future one card should solve the all requirements like voting card, driving license, Pan card, ration card etc etc etc.
Even though I am woking as scientist in DRDO, If I get an opportunity to work directly with Mr Nanadan on this project I will be one of happiest person. Can anybody tell the contact details of Mr Nandan, & how is he selecting his team?
July 14, 2009 at 10:48 am
I appreciate this challenge taken by you sir, in fact this question also leaves open to other senior professionals who are serving in top positions to ask themselves what have they done to benefit their country
July 14, 2009 at 10:50 am
sir appreciate your work that you are doing for this country
August 3, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Dear sir,
I appereciate this challenge taken by nandan sir, sir i’m working in smart card project in AP but field level problems(vote bank) link up political, geographincal, influentially resist to various places in india.
Any way i will support this project for all types of the communities identification project.
August 18, 2009 at 7:06 am
Respected Sir,
I am very gladful knowing about UIDAI Project and appointment of Mr Nilekaniji as head of this authority, I am sure that our nation is leading toward the super power before 2020 missiion.
I was dreamig about this project that helps to honest administrative official who want serve the nation as real, keeping safe distance from deep corruption, and this project solve the direct and indirect administrative, legal, social and problems on the path of nation’s progress and many more.
i am dreaming that this unique identy card should be real representive card of citizen and without this card, there should no value of any person in india,by constitutional and administrative provisions and should be treated hounored as our national flag.
now I want join the team of idea creation and designing of this Unique card, nevertheless, knowing that there are superior dignities in this team, but I am in confidence that some little idea i can serve to the nation,
awaiting fruitful result from this project within given time schedule.
your sincerly and loving this nation,
R.P.Thapliyal,Ddun
thapliyalrp@gmail.com
August 18, 2009 at 3:21 pm
If we have to go by the confusion and mistakes witnessed in issuing the Electoral cards, which are much less in number or the over 60 million Ration Cards then definitely there is a need to Brain Storm on the ‘Model’ that needs to be designed to make this task fool proof. Creating 1150 million correct identities and a continuous process to ensure that no mistakes happened is a challenging task. The 113,000 Common Service Centers can be utilized effectively in this task as roughly one CSC has to cater to 10,000/ people only.
DSK Rao
Global IT & Innovation Consultant,
Hyderabad
Cell:9440051847
August 21, 2009 at 10:44 pm
The efforts of Nandan are quite laudable in having taken the task seriously as very close to his heart and addressing the Parliament and setting timelines and mile-stones in the task. With committed and dedicated people like Shri Nandan at the helm at various departments and layers of governance, the future of the country is certainly safe.
V Rajendran
Secretary Cyber Society of India
August 28, 2009 at 9:38 am
I think this will bring enormous changes in our society if implemented properly. I have couple of suggestions as mentioned below.
This Unique ID database should capture following minimum information
1. Name
2. Address
3. Educational Qualifications
4. Photo
5. Biometric information
6. Some way to link his parents and children. So this unit of information is linked with another unit of information through family relations. (Linked List)
Following organization should implement an interface to UID database (which is maintained in a centralized/distributed server)
1. Bank/Financial House/Stock Market/Mutual Fund Company: All transactions should use UID. All big ticket financial transactions should be synchronized with central database once in a week. It should be possible to track all financial transactions done by one individual by providing UID of that person. This will be helpful for intelligence agency and Income Tax department.
2. UID should be provided for Railway/Flight ticket booking. This information can be synchronized with central UID information server. This information will help intelligence agency to track any person’s movement.
3. All registered organization in India should have access to UID information repository and should be able to retrieve minimal information about the user. (e.g. photo and home address) This will help to remove Fake UID card. For example if a person goes to buy a mobile connection, he cannot provide Fake ID because connection provider can immediately access central database through internet and can verify address and photo of the person. But all these organizations should not be able to access personal and financial information of individual. Only Tax and intelligence agency should be able to view all information.
4. Hospital/School/College/Passport/Ration Card/All other possible documentation (property docs, credit & debit card etc) should include this UID. This information should be synchronized with central server.
5. If a person shift to a different location then he should update his current address within 7 days. He should be able to do it online from some kiosk, police station upon biometric verifications.
6. In case person forgets his UID, it should be easily searchable by his name, date of birth and permanent home address.
Our intelligence agency should be able to retrieve following details from UID:
1) Bank and investment details
2) Passport and PAN details
3) Current address
4) Travel information (present and past)
5) School, college, educational info
6) Property information
7) Birth/Death information
Phone/Mobile details
How this will help
1. It will be impossible to escape tax net and corruption will be zero because all transactions will be tracked against UID and also it will not be possible to have duplicate UID because it can verified against central repository. If everybody starts paying tax, then tax burden on common man will decrease and also Government can use excess money on different type of developments.
2. Computer can generate automated alert for investigative agency based on certain criteria like big amount of financial transactions not matching to his salary, travelling to suspicious country. Intelligence agency can narrow down searches and monitor such individuals.
3. Because of biometric database, it will be easy to solve criminal case by searching finger print and other details in existing database.
August 30, 2009 at 2:35 pm
The purpose of UID should be strictly to provide an identity for Indian citizens. It should contain only such data that are required to establish the identity of the person. We need to avoid the temptation of making it a bundle of information such as bank details etc.
I think this is what Nandan is also attempting when he says that service providers will use the UID for issuing their own cards.
This will also reduce the risk/liability for data loss. This would however mean that the proliferation of cards in the pocket of an individual will continue except that every card used at present such as PAN card, Voter’s ID etc will be reissued with one more parameter added namely the UID.
I have placed more details of my suggestions on the UID at http://www.bloggernews.net/122056
I have highlighted here the need for defining a “Root ID parameter”, bifurcation of UID data itself into primiary and secondary and use of “multiple biometric factors for authentication”, making the data accessible by the data subject etc.
Comments are welcome
September 10, 2009 at 3:55 pm
These days every one keeps multiple ID proof but non of them is complete in all respects. This causes great hindrance because we are not able to track desired information. Every were we find manipulation; non of them is able to provide right information. The Government has invested lot of fund for computerization of every department but information is still incomplete. For various project, our Government is sanctioning and providing lot of fund but only 25% is reaching up to the needy hands. Most of the fund returned as sanctioning group were unable to manipulate and get adequate commission. Needy and poor people were pressurized to pay adequate commission to get approval for the release of their fund.
September 28, 2009 at 10:25 am
Dear All,
Unique ID for all Indian citizens soon. We as fellow Indians should start helping Mr. Nandan Nilekani so that he suceeds on this project.
As it would also serve as the basis for many e-Governance services incorporating online verification of a person’s identity hence data collection is the first step of this process and proper data collection is the most important thing. Gathering and storing biometric information outside devices operated by the person him/herself poses a high security and privacy risk and should be avoided whenever possible.
There should build a system that render online repository system to UIDAI integrated with the mobile framework. This information, transmission, retrieval and validation will be controlled using single integrated indigenous architecture that has inbuilt capabilities of storage, ability to operate on multiple environments be available, to communicate on multiple protocols, having inbuilt encryption and compression without having to use multiple third party licenses carrying the tiny footprint to be available across multiple hardware’s.
As you all aware in Healthcare – 50% of Indians do not have access to primary healthcare – technology can provide it at a fraction of the cost.
More important is to put UID system in the best interest of public. It would help every individual for a variety of purposes such as better targeting of government’s development schemes, regulatory purposes (including taxation and licensing), security purposes, banking and financial sector activities and this system will be able to enhance the state health care community’s ability to provide a rapid and coordinate response in the event of a state or national crisis.
Hence ones Finger print should be promoted as their Finger signature!!!
Raja Seevan
September 28, 2009 at 10:29 am
Good Initiative
September 28, 2009 at 10:49 am
Will this Prestigious project create Jobs for Elderly persons like us?
September 29, 2009 at 8:08 am
From what we understand UID is now being planned for all “Residents” of India and not “Citizens” of India.
This means that one of the security objectives of the plan to check illegal migrants into India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Sri Lanka is not going to be checked by UID.
Secondly,UID would issue the numbers based on the submission of applications through Banks,Mobile companies and other institutions who are users of UID. The reliability of parameters associated with the UID such as address will be as verified by these agencies.
There is a danger of the present unreliable data getting legitimized through UID.
September 29, 2009 at 9:11 am
Dear All,
The UID is going to be just a number given to the Individual based on his Finger prints.
Once the numbers are issued, there will be online authentication using his or her finger print, The system will verify whether you are the person you are claiming to be and a message will be returned saying ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ and no other personal details of the person will be given.
Tommrow this personal UID number can be applied to the Individuals , Tax Returns /challans, RTO forms, passport, Ration card, election card, Pan card, Senior citizen forms, NRGES forms, Excise returns, Invoices, Fixed deposit receipts, WILL, Gift deeds, Personal health records, Admission Forms, Salary slips, Form 16, Rental Receipts, Credit cards forms , Banks documents, Biometrics fingerprint scans, Insurance claims, Insurance certificates, Court case documents, letters, School, college, degree, certificates, marks card, balance sheets, MOUs, Agreements, Family tree, Building Sanction letters, certificates, plans, drawings, layout plans, clearance certificates, property documents, encumbrance certificates, water bill, electricity bills , educational fees receipts, telephone bills, mobile bills, reports, Scientific abstracts, purchase orders, Inventory reports, annual reports, Minutes of meetings, Boards resolutions, various company documents, Share certificates, Automobile documents, Driving license, Election ID card, police verification certificates, FIR, complaints, Court orders, employment certificates, personal documents, Investigation reports, Hospital reports, Discharge summary, death certificates, corporation Delivery challans, tax reciepts, sales tax challans, services tax challans, Vat challans, Affidavits, Trade mark – copy right certificates or documents, Bank accounts, photographs, Personal Employment records, Purchase orders , EOI, work orders, Marriage certificates, Divorce orders, adopotation certificate, etc.
With regards
Raja Seevan
October 1, 2009 at 10:08 am
I AM RATHER SURPIRSED THAT A PERSON OF NANDANS STATURE HAS NOT THOUGHT IT FIT TO HAVE A DEDICATED WEBSITE FOR THE UID AUTHORITY AND INVITE SUGGESTIONS FROM THE PUBLIC.
THE CRITICAL ISSUE IN MY MIND IS TO DEVELOP A SYSTEM FOR a] COLLECTING INDIVIDUAL DATA and b] HAVING THEM VALIDATED SO THAT THE ID NO CAN BE ISSUED.
MAY I SUGGEST TO NANDAN THAT A CONSDIERABLE SEGMENT OF INDIA POPULATION HAVE ACCESS TO THE INTERNET. HE MUST PROVIDE FOR ONLINE DATA ENTRY FOR ALL THOSE HAVING ACCESS TO THE NET AND THROUGH THIS METHOD MORE THAN 15% OF THE POPULATIONS DATA BASE CAN BE FIRST CONSTRUCTED. THIS CAN BE VALIDATED BY THE NODAL AUTHORITIES AT DIFFERENT CENTRES. WHT NOT PROVIDE FOR ONLINE DATA ENTRY AND COVER A MAJOR POPULATION ?
October 3, 2009 at 12:58 pm
I do agree with the Innovative ways Nandan sir has Brought to Make world understand the Technological growth in India. But Dear sir, i think you will have to go on Grass root for Gathering details at Micro level. They are loopholes certainly if u rely on Muncipal corporation wise data collected. Eg Many of the Guys stll have mistakes on their National election card, being issued by respective muncipal co-orporation eg, age,Sex, Add are different for Even Husban & wife staying in same Building, (E. Myself). For That u will have to rely on Passport details utmost, Because people do fake the Documents to open an a/c in Bank or to avail a loan. But in passport it will be tougher, because police verification is done, & only Bonafide citizen gets the passport. Hence Do take in consideration before relying on states, ZPs,Muncipal corporations data & if possible i my self ready to help u on micro level in this regard, if given a chance, also appoint the people, who knows to work on grass root basis & not merely do Bossizm plsssssssssss!
October 5, 2009 at 9:55 pm
Hello Sir,
The moment this project was announced I was desperate to get in touch with this team. I wrote to editor of one of the newspaper as well to seek some help to get in touch with this team. I had conceptualised the same/similar concept in 2005 and had presented it within my Company as well. At that time though appreciation was there but there were no implementers. With this team and implementation of it becoming a reality is a great step ahead. I would request for help to provide me a contact from this team please. Please find few excerpts from my white paper on this concept listed below:
Growth of technology and communication is going hand in hand one supporting the other. Telecommunication sector has and is taking a big leap in short span of time. Evolution taking it from 2G to 2.5G and now to 3G and beyond. This speed of growth is revolutionizing the world around us. But the digital management is still under a volatile state. For every change there is repetition of process and multiple instances of identity exist which has no credibility in the transactions and our day-to-day life. This also limits our flexibility zones and the point to which a business can penetrate. This severely affects its market potential and our efforts. When our identity is focused in the digital world then we can say it still gives an impression of a stone age. It is unreliable, volatile and redundant. If we want to incorporate all business and our daily niches in the telecommunication world then we need a reliable, robust and a versatile digital identity to which all actions point to for authentication and transaction. In this paper I am discussing the architecture, need, use, implemented scenarios and advantages of digitizing our identity.
1. INTRODUCTION
1.1 Business:
Telecommunication industry is rigorously growing and spreading in all sectors of business and life. Steadily it is becoming the backbone in these sectors. But when the question comes to the consumer then the process to avail and flexible use of these digital facilities are build on a age old platform. Consumer doesn’t have the facility to pick the best deal. There is always a price to pay for every instance of “best deal picking” which neutralizes its benefit. With this both the business and the consumers are affected adversely.
1.2 Identity:
Though we have an identity in the telecommunication circle but it cannot be efficiently stretched to other domains. This pulls down our benefits to nearly zero. Even our telecom identity has minimum credibility. This leads to duplication of processes, multiple one-time charges and repetition of work. This in turn drains out the effort by the providers and hassles the consumer.
1.3 Services:
Tax, Profit, Traffic, Defence, any Business Sector, Security and Safety Measures are some of the domains that could have been but are not digitally integrated with the system and its parent domain. Service niche referring to above services get inputs and deliver outputs on assumptions and vague static data. This affects the business and growth of technology. No dynamic input interface, authentication process, authenticated digital gateway and decision-making system are available to proactively run and support the system.
Warm Regards,
Saurabh Sinha
October 6, 2009 at 1:01 pm
Sir, I have a wonderful idea of completing the prestigious UID project in the stipulated time frame , it interests let me know to furnish the details
to
Sir Nilekani
Project in Incaharge
IID project
October 8, 2009 at 8:21 am
Please allow Nandan at least six months or a year
No pint in taking suggestions unless he gets his framework
Random billion suggestions take you nowhere
October 27, 2009 at 3:59 pm
Sir,
Really a wonderful task assigned to such a great challenger, Mr. Nandan Nilekani. Let me also contribute myself in the process of the completion of the great task. I have worked as a english faculty for 3 years and got banking experience of around 16 years. I take pleasure to be a part of the
team.
Regards
S.Pradeep Naidu
Bangalore
December 7, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Govt. of India has been exploring the possibility of issuing a unique Identity Card for every citizen of India to meet several objectives like establishment of identify, prevention of unauthorized stay of foreigners, addressing security concerns as also for identification of the beneficiaries under various Central and State Govt. Welfare Schemes for certain sections of the society. Various attempts have been made in the past on a limited scale to work on this project.
In this regard, some 5 years back, I had suggested a similar idea to the Home Dept. of the Central Govt. This idea termed as “COIN” i.e. “Citizen Of India Number”, envisages a unique number of 16 digits to be assigned to every citizen of India.
Starting from right to left, the 16 digit no. given to every individual citizen will contain the following information:
Digit 1: male/female/neutre (such as 1, 2 or 3)
Digit 2: serial no of person in family (e.g. first child will have serial no 3, first being the husband, second the wife)
Digits 3 and 4: flat or house no. (say flat no 22)
Digits 5 and 6: society/precinct/mohalla no. (say 37th society)
Digits 7 and 8: ward no. in city/village/town (say in ward no 22)
Digits 9 and 10: census no of village/town/city in the taluka/tehsil (say settlement no 67)
Digits 11 and 12: taluka/tehsil no. in district (say 11th taluka)
Digits 13 and 14: district no in State/UT (say 17th )
Digit 15: State/UT no in zone (say 4th of central zone)
Digit 16: Zone no in the country (say 3rd zone i.e. central zone)
The number once given ( at the time of birth itself) will remain unchanged throughout the lifetime of the person.
The suggestion be duly considered for implementation.
January 1, 2010 at 12:51 pm
India is steeped in Corruption and Black Money. In the list of tainted countries arranged in the ascending order of corruption, india’s position was found to be 78 out of 99. This is a blot to the country. It is high time Govt should take drstic action to curb this menace.
The main reason for the corruption is the proliferation of cash. In advanced countries the use of cash is minimal.( less than .01%) All financial transactions take place by debit/ credit card. It may not be too difficult for our country also to establish such a procedure as follows.
1) All people having an income of more than Rs5000/- pm may be required to open a bank account. and the bank should provide a debit/ credit card and a cheque book. 2) All transactions of value Rs 5000/- and mor shall be paid only by debit /credit card. 3) The Banks should not allow deposits/ withdrawals of more than rs 5000/- at any time or more than once a week.
The Ministry of UID can make a study and bring about the reformation in the shortest time possible, whichwill have a huge economjic impact.
N. Parameswaran.