Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani on Tuesday ruled out making AADHAR, the unique identity number of each individual, mandatory for all citizens, and said it would be optional.
During an interactive session at the Confederation of Indian Industry here, Mr. Nilekani pointed out the difficulties that would crop up if the number was made mandatory by service deliverers. If one did not have the number, one would be excluded from the benefit of that particular programme.
While stating that AADHAR would remain optional, Mr. Nilekani was confident that the number would have its relevance. He was in talks with the Reserve Bank of India to have the number accepted as proof of identity for opening bank accounts.
The proposed law seeking to grant statutory status to the UIDAI would seek to put in place a frame work to protect the data across the country from being misused, Mr. Nilekani said. He underlined the need for checks and balances to protect the data from both private and government users.
Replying to a question, he said the mandate was to issue the number only to citizens and not to outsiders, almost ruling out the possibility of entertaining the claims of NRIs. “Only if they have stayed for a requisite time period in India, can they can be given one.”
Asked whether the National Population Register too going in for biometric and iris image would not be an exercise in duplication, Mr. Nilekani said both this agency and the UIDAI were working together and would hold further discussions to seek help.
CII president Venu Srinivasan was in the chair.
Clarification
The caption of the photograph that went with the above had a detail of the CII President's Award being given to C.R. Swaminathan, chief executive, PSG Institutions. It led to a query as the text did not mention this.
At that function, Mr. Nilekani had also presented the CII President's awards to Mr. U.K. Sinha, Chairman – CII National Committee on Mutual Funds and CMD, UTI AMC; Mr. R.S. Sharma, Chairman – CII Public Sector Enterprises Council, and CMD, ONGC; Mr. P.S. Bhattacharya, Chairman – CII Sub Committee on Sustainable Development and CMD, Coal India Ltd; Mr. Harpal Singh, Immediate Past Chairman – CII Northern Region and Mentor and Chairman Emeritus, Fortis Healthcare Limited; Dr. Naushad Forbes, Immediate Past Chairman – CII Western Region and Director, Forbes Marshall Pvt Ltd. and Mr. Mukul Somany, Immediate Past Chairman – CII Eastern Region and Joint Managing Director, Hindustan National Glass and Industries Limited. Mr. C.R. Swaminathan is also Immediate Past Chairman – CII Southern Region and Chief Executive, PSG Institutions.
The CII President's Awards are an annual feature and presented to individuals “making an outstanding contribution to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII)”.
The brand name of the Unique Identification number (UID) has now been changed to AADHAAR, and not AADHAR as mentioned in the heading and text of the report. AADHAAR, which translates into “foundation”, or “support”, is a word present across most Indian languages and is to be used in the branding and communication of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) programme across the country. The design, which has been selected as the logo for AADHAAR, is a sun in red and yellow, with a fingerprint traced across its centre.
its another way to make money for all officers. its not possible to get
all becoz there is so many people in India still they don't have ration
card also then how came they can count people .this all make money to
officers
In the long run, if Aadhaar is integrated with Banks, Police Department, Municipal Adiministration, Electricity Departments, Passport Offices, then it will enhance delivery of public services by improvising the administration which is now very inefficient to meet the needs of present.
I thought UID was supposed to be similar to SSN in USA. Unless it is made mandatory and linked to all the activities an individual does, this project will not be as effective as it sounded. One SSN number is enough to get the whole record of an individual ( from health care, land , job , traffic violations ... to even non-payment of telephone bill).This is perhaps the best way to track the credibility of a person rather than asking for a hundred proofs and letters from different authorities. If such a system is there in India we could prevent a lot of underground activities going on our system. I wish it will serve its purpose than being an optional proof of identification. Unless all the possibilities of such an unique number is used, the project cannot be called really effective.
This 12 digit numbering should have been more human oriented. Instead of just 12 digits, the number should have alphabets as well. Example: 1234 RATNA 3456. Use 5 alphabet Indian names that are easy to recall, pronounce and hear (over phone) without ambiguity. I had pointed this out 2 years ago in a letter to the UIAI. Being digital technology, this should have been easy to implement. Besides to make it appealing and attractive , allow the user to choose one name from a list given to him or her.
This new card will be a big failure as it is not programmed for the way it is supposed to. Wait and Watch.
You did not get it Mr Vivek. The number is not there to prove your existence. The number is there to help you to prove to the bank that you exist. It is aimed at poor and migrant workers. It is not aimed and people who already have passports and drivers licenses to prove who they are.
If its not mandatory, then gates of fraud open up and surley it would be another futile excercise. It's imperative to bemandatory.
While it is a good initiative with good intention looking to the diversity in Indian and prevailing sociopoletical situation it is not looking to be a success programme.
In India any thing voluntary can not work. Without compermising the interest of the poorest of the poor and deprived setion of the society it is required to think out of the box to bring them into the fold.
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