Faced with complaints of long delays in getting the Aadhaar number, the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is speeding up the delivery process using the mobile phone.The bottleneck of UID has not been enrollment — information flowing from the individual to the UIDAI. The UIDAI's main difficulty seems to have been closing the loop with individuals by communicating the UID number to the newly-registered individual.
UIDAI has successfully tested a new application which allows sending Aadhaar numbers through a short message service (sms). Complaints have been piling up over the delay in getting the Aadhaar number. JR Gupta of Conferderation of Senior Citizens Association of India said that people were not receiving Aadhaar numbers even eight months after enrollment.
Adding the capability to text the newly issued number to registrants is a significant improvement because many UID enrollees will have mobile phones, allowing the UIDAI to reduce its dependence on India Post even though it's highly unlikely that the UIDAI has the desire or ability to completely sever its dependence on India Post for delivering UID numbers to some people.
Diversifying UID's distribution function should improve service.
See also:
UID Catch-22
UID May Ditch India Post
