After a person is allotted a UID number, his/her identity linked to biometrics would be established to uniquely identify the person. The UID number would authenticate the identity claim of a person and would have wide-ranging applications during the person's lifetime. And it would benefit everyone from students to farmers to corporate executives.If it is too difficult to do things the "right" way, rational people will do things a different way.
The UID will not just help the government track down individuals but will make life far easier for citizens as they will not have to submit so many documents each time they want to avail a new service – private or government.
Since India is a country where food distribution is a major concern, UID can be helpful in bringing transparency in public distribution system, too, and make sure the benefits of government schemes are reaching the people who deserve it.
In many developing countries, this means taking electricity straight from the grid, neglecting to register a business and paying bribes rather than obtaining permits. These actions lead to a reduction in a society's ability to invest in the physical and social infrastructure that delivers first-world living standards.
According to the World Bank, among world economies, India ranks:
134th in "Ease of doing business"
165th in "Ease of starting a business"
Other measures at the link are equally distressing.
In order legitimately to start a business in India, one must negotiate 12 bureaucratic hurdles including the payment of 9 different fees. Many of these steps include the verification of the applicant's identity.
Better identity management techniques, are not by themselves sufficient to improve the daily lives of Indians at all levels of society, but they are necessary for legitimizing citizens and streamlining government.
Beyond the bureaucracy of starting a business, the UID project can bring efficiency and deliver real value to Indian society in the areas of Taxation, Banking, Voting, Welfare transfers, Education and Health care.
Not only does the UID project give government an increased ability to identify citizens, it gives citizens an increased ability to hold their government accountable. Implementation of biometric time and attendance systems within government bureaucracies can reduce or eliminate ghost workers and stem corruption.
These are the opportunities India seeks for itself.
There is much work to do and there will be resistance. Privacy advocates that don't know what it's like to wait in line for hours or be forced to pay a bribe for every mundane interaction with the government or public utility will take to the newspapers. Corrupt officials with armies of ghost workers that are diverting resources meant for the poor into offshore bank accounts will drag their feet. Welfare fraudsters collecting multiple payments under multiple identities will prove remarkably ingenious at milking the system. But India must, at least, try.
Many of the world's poor, not just in India, are depending upon them to get this right.
