UID: Radical Ideas & Real Challenges

Why India's identity scheme is groundbreaking (BBC)

With a unique identity, previously anonymous poor Indians can have access to services such as bank accounts, mobile connections and driving licences.

That is already something, for a country which has a population of 1.2 billion but only 50 million passport-holders and 200 million with driving licenses.

Indians design and build some of the world's most sophisticated software and technologies for multinational corporations.

Now, some of this hi-tech savvy promise to transport India's neglected millions from the technological dark ages, propelling them from complete obscurity to an online identity.

This highly recommended article pulls together a lot of the themes we discuss here.