Is unique Identification really required?

In the Devil’s Advocate,Karan Thapar charged Nandan Nilekhani by questioning him about the need of UID. Questions were tailored to emphasize how irrelevant UID program is.

It sounds so weird that why anybody wants justification for UID program isn’t this need of the hour. U.S had already implemented a Social Security Number; and in U.K there is National Insurance Number, so why such a question for India, typical of Indianism.

Well the answer is, it might be the most ambitious project for UPA or a prudent investment for future India, but, have they reckoned the measures before going for such a voluminous project?; I guess no.

UID, Unique Identification for every Indian, it sounds too techy but is it what can handle over 1 billion population, certainly, it’s not panacea and i agree that this is a kind of investment which will reap fruits at a later stage and at the same time will assist govt to focus where to invest. It will let them know about the exact numbers and its numbers which matters most. But the tricky part is; will it be effective?

In india we can’t just come up with some trendy idea, we need to consider various aspect like poverty, Politicians, Illegitimate goons ……etc and to a greater extent this exist for UID too. In one of the questions asked in Devil’s Advocate,” you are creating a system which in the wrong hands would be a powerful tool for either religious or caste profiling. How can you ensure that unscruplous politicians won't misuse it for their benefit and against your intentions and the best interest of the Indian people? “ , to this Nandan Nielkhani’s reply was that this system does not contain any such information, by simply excluding the SC, ST and OBC information, so that it should not act as a lethal tool, how UID is going to help in Demographic analysis.

In other Question where Karan Thapar gave his estimate of about 1.5 Lakh crore, as stated by London School of Economics for UID project in India for 700 millions people, M.r Nielkhani replied that however he does not know the exact cost but still his guess is that it should be 1/10 of what LSE has stated; an educated guess any nothing else. I was lurched to see that Mr Nielkhani is guessing; as if he is contesting for some game show, or he for him this amount is a peanut.

In the continuation, K T asked, “ What about the recurring cost” N N replied,” On the scale of money that we spend on public programs and the ability of the project to deliver better public programs it will be well worth it”, again a politically correct answer.

Throughout his interview, Nandan Nielkhani was found repeating his statement,” this is a legitimate Concern and we will try”. At none of the occasion I found him gritty or audacious; it was quite wary that is he the Chairman of this Project?; and finally he was swayed towards a typical corporate approach; he simply justified his point by pointing towards Govt. ,” The Government has come to the conclusion that this project is strategic and worth it. I have been invited to lead this project. I believe that it is viable and I will do my best to make it viable.”

Most of the question which were asked remained unanswered, If Nandan Nielkhani is not sure about the vulnerability of the system against hackers; reliability of the System, since none of the country has implemented for such a large scale and its effective usage for rural India then I guess its only god who knows, certainly god is not going come and brief us with UID.

We can never put sufficient checks and balances and neither we can guarantee its malicious use so is it advisable to have such system. As per LSE,” The success of a national identity system depends on a sensitive cautious and cooperative approach involving all key stakeholders, including an independent and rolling assessment and regular review of management practices," and the LSE has concluded that it did not exist in the UK. If it does not exist in the UK, that environment certainly doesn't exist in India?