A Look Back: The Big, Fat ID Number Project

WHY WE DID THE STORY: From the time Nandan Nilekani took over as chairman of the UID project, there was a lot of interest in how the project would shape up. How would one of India’s richest men work inside the bureaucracy? We were eager to tell that story, but Nilekani and his team were not. Convincing Ram Sevak Sharma, director general, UIDAI, was the toughest task. The government, he said, is run by faceless bureaucrats and basking in the spotlight is not something they are comfortable with. What was most impressive was the meshing of the public and private sector cultures that saw bureaucrats working late hours, overcoming differences and keeping their eyes firmly on the goal. It was the first time that the government enabled so many volunteers from the private sector, academia and civil society to work on a project.

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WHERE THE STORY STANDS: Ever since its launch last September, the UID number has been issued to more than four million Indians. The task is far from over: The target is to issue 600 million Indians a UID number in the next five years. But more than the number, what the UID project has accomplished is the wide-scale inclusion of the poor and weaker sections of society.
Empowered by their Aadhaar numbers, they can now open a bank account, directly receive cash benefits and subsidies from the government and so on. Aadhaar has also sharpened the debate about privacy and how information in the wrong hands can lead to racial profiling. Some activists also feel that it is a very expensive programme that might never yield results. The debate continues.