IndiaFacts Expose: Unmasking Aadhaar
That the scam-tainted UPA Government’s much-touted and ambitious project of giving a Unique Identification Number (UID)–also known as Aadhaar–to every Indian citizen went haywire from day one is now well-known. Among other things, IDs were issued to dogs, trees, chairs, and a hen. In the bargain, the Aadhaar project headed by former Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani has sent about Rs. 35 Billion of taxpayer money down the drain.
However, goof-ups in assigning IDs to dogs, chairs, etc are relatively harmless compared to what lies beneath this colossal waste of public money.
First, let’s examine how the UID website defines Aadhaar:
Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India.
This number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.
Any individual, irrespective of age and gender, who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid down by the UIDAI can enrol for Aadhaar.
Each individual needs to enroll only once which is free of cost.
Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life
Next, let’s examine what the UID claims in its procedure for enrolling for Aadhaar:
You can go to any authorized Aadhaar enrollment center anywhere in India with your identity and address proof.
UIDAI process accepts 18 PoI (Proof of Identity) and 33 PoA (Proof of Address) documents… Common proofs of identity and address are election photo ID card, Ration card, passport and driving license.
Now let’s look at a real life instance of how this works in practice thanks to an alert IndiaFacts reader who sent in the following (click the graphic below to view the full size):
This is a scanned copy of a real Aadhaar card issued to the person mentioned in the picture above by the Government of India. His photograph has been blanked out to protect privacy.
On the face of it, it looks fine. However, the catch is in the residential address mentioned. The address is where the IndiaFacts reader who sent it in lives. However, the name of the person to whom the Aadhaar card was issued happens to be his former servant who hails from another town.
To state the obvious, there has been multiple violations of the Aadhaar enrollment procedure.
1. The UID website claim that “each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life” now falls flat because this person is now in a position to obtain another Aadhaar card giving the address of his original home.
2. The other UID website claim that “this number will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India” is also belied because this gentleman is now in a position to have at least two “unique” identities and addresses.
3. The more important fact is this procedure for obtaining the Aadhaar card: “UIDAI process accepts 18 PoI (Proof of Identity) and 33 PoA (Proof of Address) documents… Common proofs of identity and address are election photo ID card, Ration card, passport and driving license.” Now, the gentleman in question has not lived at the address of the IndiaFacts reader. Yet he somehow managed to provide Proof of Identity and Proof of Address documents to the contrary and obtained an Aadhaar card for himself. One wonders how he managed that.
And this is the story of just one person. It should not surprise anybody if there are hundreds of such people across India who have multiple “unique” UIDs.
Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of the UIDAI enjoys a cabinet rank in the Union Government. Given that there is talk about him contesting on a Congress ticket from the Bangalore South Lok Sabha seat for the upcoming 2014 polls, concerned citizens need to question him over such vital issues of public interest.
This article needs not go further into the fundamentals… why do we need Aadhaar when we have so many similar systems in India, how is it better than other systems in India… what about the overlap with other ministries’ projects… what is the global experience… what are the safeguards against misuse… RG in his recent interview on TimesNow claims that Aadhaar is for direct money transfer… is its objective only that… if yes, one needs to probe the Aadhaar strategy and implementation in great detail. Hope this article does not stop here, and becomes a developing article.
Regarding “The UID website claim that “each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for life” now falls flat because this person is now in a position to obtain another Aadhaar card giving the address of his original home.”
Er, how exactly?
Wouldn’t the finger prints, the other proof of identity (although, the said person can always submit another from the 18 Proof of Identities that is prescribed) indicate that this a duplicate.
It is abundantly clear that there are a lot of shortcomings with the execution of the Aadhar scheme, but your statement of “falls flat” is a bit far-fetched in my humble opinion. Yes, there will be some lapses, some mistakes but there has to be beginning somewhere.
I do not think that any government scheme has been completely flawless. They all have deficiencies, drawbacks, human-errors, process-errors but as long as a major portion of it is got right, I do not think there is a problem here.
This is not far fetched, if the system can indicate it’s a duplicate UID, then it shouldn’t issue such UID’s, isn’t it? If the system is not capable of that, then it’s clearly falling flat on it’s promise of issuing unique UIDs. What’s the problem with people, I guess some guys who might have worked with Infosys seems to have some sort of soft corner on Nandan Nilekani.
@Veeru: My comment on it being far fetched was for the writing that it falls flat on its face. I am hoping that the system will indicate that it is a duplicate and will not issue a new one and as long as it does that, I do not see a problem.
Systems and processes are in place to ensure that fraud is prevented, but it does not stop people from attempting to commit fraud. So, yes, people will “attempt” to get two UID’s, but as long as they do not get it and their duplicate request is cancelled with a flag to reject subsequent applications right at the time of applying it should be OK.
For the record, I have never worked for Infosys nor will I ever work for them and I most definitely do not have a soft corner for him.
I am more than happy to discuss this here as long as there are no wild speculations and we stick to the topic on hand. If not, I am happy to be agree to disagree.
I guess “Infosys” part of my comment was far fetched, uncalled for! apologize for that. But the thing with Aadhar is, system is not well designed. The fact that there is a parallel effort going on to weed out duplicates is an indicator of that. It also indicates that system is not capable of putting up a flag, which should have been the case from day 1. Planning for issuing a billion ids should have been done meticulously, which doesn’t seem to be the case with Aadhar.
@AVS
A good project manager should have ensured that an effective identity+address verification system is already in place & working without any major issues. This is the most important prerequisite for UID.
“..the Aadhaar project headed by former Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani has sent about Rs. 35 Billion of taxpayer money down the drain.”
You wouldn’t build a Rs35 billion system without a basic checklist. Whether fraud or not, it’ll be foolish to hire this guy ever again & trust him with more responsibilities.
Raj kashyap, sure. Everyone has right to critique project as well as nilkeni. Also can take a view that he is inefficient. I have no problems. But what pained me is to bust my trust on Indiafacts by showing uncalled for and unfair allegation linking this to fraud. It’s not a fact. Just because u can use this opportunity for blaming with fraud here shows separateness of ur hate on Congress. Which is good but not when it leads to ur perception than fraud. Indiafacts should not publish these kind of irresponsible non facts. If u don’t get this difference, u r no different than any sad media. Hoping to see this attitude corrected. Fraud is very different and we should be careful and responsible while publishing. then more and more Will continue to support u.
I’m not sure if you know this, but already there is an effort going on to weed out duplicate Aadhar cards issued. For a project that has barely touched 50% of it’s target, that’s alarming to say the least. As mentioned in this article the process of issuing cards is plagued with issues. My wife recently got this card without even submitting any address proof, does that sound like a great system put in place? Pointing out a flaw in the system doesn’t amount to bias. You need to first clear out your bias before reading articles like this.
Point missed again 🙂 pls read one more time and you would be clear. I never said its a great system. neither i have any issue with the criticism. All that i am saying is, linking this to fraud is a over exaggeration due to desperateness!!
Its like, if your enemy has offered you a lift and because he didnt know how to drive properly or still learning – and you accuse of murder plans ::-) if you cant get the message inspite of 3 replies. I give up. you can continue to carry your hate to even infer me as a congi supporter where as i am a big supporter of BJP . that doesnt let me color my view with so much desperateness. I will have no spare time to battle this out but you can continue if you dont get what i mean. thanks anyway.
ridiculing everything as per the agenda is an order of today’s media!! I thought India facts is NOT so but you are proving to be so as i see more of these kind of improper colors assigned to issues like this one.
We all know that All governmental organizations are ineffective and inefficient hence the issues you mentioned are more of failure to deliver as per expectations than any thought through fraud. That fraud color given by you clearly shows the agenda you have. It surely is sad to see these improper things by UID program but they are not from a Fraud. Lets not color things the way we want to. Very disappointed to see this from your team. I had better expectations than this.
I am no supporter of Congress and pro BJP doesnt mean we fail to interpret the performance issues with the Fraud etc. It only shows your desperateness to blame govt and party for everything. i fully support you criticising govt but not in a ill projected view. This program sure is inefficient and wasting money and time but there is NO intentional fraud in it. Its also very very important and required to have this UID completed asap. There are numerous evolutionary changes India has to do in future and this is a basic infrastructure for it.
Regards…