Privacy concerns

• Two options were considered –

1. To collect details in depth like health, spouse, income, kids, loan, pensions, bank accounts, electoral roll
2. Data required only for identity purpose and not more than what is required to proof identity
A tussle between loading the database which would support many applications and limiting to identity management.
Advantages and disadvantages of more data-
o Applications easier to create
o But the cost of updating and maintain the data would be enormous
o Having more data would have distracted from the purpose of identification
A committee was formed with the necessary stakeholders and decision was made to collect minimal demographic data like name age address
gender to allay the privacy concerns. Yet criticism continued with hypothetical scenarios being created to show identity theft via aadhar that
left people jobless, denied medical insurance etc.
Mr Nilekani defended the concern of data theft . Two main reasons were given –
1. Data kept offline
2. Access was restricted
The need for data security law was acknowledged to impose limitations on business’ use of personal data yet concerns remained over govt.
tapping emails and phones.
Execution and Implementation
• Enrollment ecosystem : reach ,accuracy and delivery
Plans for three different partners laid down – state governments, public banks, private sector to work in harmony
UIDAI was structured into eight regions : each region covering around a population of 160mn . E.g. Bangalore office covered Karnataka,
Tamilnadu, Puducherry , Lakshadweep .
Responsibility of these regions included front end enrollment, signing MOU with state government and registrars, appointing enrollment
agencies via a bidding process .
Roles and responsibility of registrars –
 Ensuring correct data collection as well as aggregate enrollments from subregistrars, forwarding to CIDR
 Maintain UIDAI standards in technology used for biometrics
 Appoint enrollment agencies
Goal –To reach 50000 operator were required to be trained but by June 2011 only 15000 were certified and 5000 active.
Productivity varied from 60-70 enrollment to 10. Others issues like work environment were a hindrance.
Model was revised later and operator level reports was developed shared with the enrollment agency. Data collected was reviewed and then
sent to CIDR . An ecosystem was created as the enrollment peaked in JAN 2012 to 24 mn .
However it dropped to 6mn in July because of the NPR which was to issue national identity cards.
 Application ecosystem : usage and impact
• An acceptance by banking and telecom authorities that Aadhar details fulfilled the KYC norms.
• Pilot projects were initiated to test authentication services using the data centers in NOIDA and BANGALORE.
• By 2012 regulators agreed to accept Aadhar as proof of both identity and address .
• UIDAI prepared reports an AADHAR enabled services delivery and applications for government subsidization schemes of health, education,
food, fuel and rural work.
• However there were failures related to leakages in the system. Target beneficiaries failed to receive benefits.
To avoid leakages government was working on modalities for cash transfer of subsidies using Aadhar platform.
1. A pilot project for distribution of domestic LPG using Aadhar was rolled out in Mysore (90% coverage)
2. Another controversial experiment was to integrate aadhar with MNREGA cards in three districts of Jharkhand. The objective was to make
banking access easier for rural workers, by passing post offices where identity fraud was endemic.
Banking correspondents were appointed to pay MNREGA workers their dues. The workers were identified through Aadhar based biometric
authentication using micro atm. Failures like fingerprint recognition, lack of bank accounts, passbooks, missing Aadhar number made the
experiment less than successful. However system did work to a extent of making the process hassle free.
Implementation challenges were recognized and it was expected that over the time MNREGA cards would carry Aadhar number.
Many fledgling applications surfaced around Aadhar. Shardul Lavekar came up with a solar powered device M-Artha, a microatm for biometric
process, with the aim to build his own database leading to quick authentication.