Unique Identification: The Right Way Forward

I published a series of blog posts [dated Mar. 28, 2014; Apr. 8, 2014; Apr. 11, 2014 and Apr. 13, 2014] that identified legal infirmities and technological lacunae in the implementation of the Aadhar project. 

While the critical evaluation was generally well-received, some posed: “What’s the way forward?” Others commented that I had only pointed out flaws, but not given any solutions.  

Valid remarks, indeed! So, the stage was set for this piece, a first-cut attempt at recasting UIDAI.

Bolstering the Judicial Mechanisms 

At the outset, regardless of how watertight the identification system is, people with mala fide intentions will find loopholes and exploit them. In this context, the sophistication of technologies used, biometric or otherwise, is a moot point, since there have been many reports of not only fake and forged Aadhar card rackets, but also issue of Aadhar cards to dogs, trees and chairs. 

So then, how to counter rackets of the corrupt and the crooked? How to deter criminals from defrauding the system, through either upstream, fake-identity creation or downstream, fraudulent enjoyment of benefits and subsidies? 

The answer lies in first ushering integrity and discipline into the system. Penal provisions and judicial processes should be stringent enough to adequately and effectively deter offenders from flouting the “unique identification” system. This calls for strengthening the Indian Penal Code, 1860; the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988; the Information Technology Act, 2000 and the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1973 with amendments to:  

1. Establish special, fast-track courts to try swiftly those accused of misusing or manipulating the system. 
2. Introduce summary proceedings for establishing culpability of those accused of offenses of creating, issuing, approving, possessing or benefiting from fake, forged or fraudulent identities. 
3. Impose on accused the burden of proving innocence, especially in cases of either officials issuing or persons possessing fake identities. 
4. Institute strong vigilance mechanisms, based on, say, statistical sampling and physical inspection, to verify and validate identities. 
5. Frame guidelines for speedy sanction of prosecution of public servants charged with corruption or creation of bogus identities. 

While some of the above measures may seem Draconian, they are necessary to vanquish the unholy “official-criminal” nexus and to introduce greater accountability into the system. Further, the “unique identity” system has to be designed with inherent checks and balances not only to ensure integrity and validity of identities, but also to eliminate false and fraudulent activities.   

Thus, the desideratum for successful implementation of a “unique identification” system in the country is suitable legal reforms. 

System Objectives 

In the overall analysis, the objectives of the “unique identity system” should be to:  

1. Build the National Citizen Register (NCR) and National Legal Residents Register (NLRR) through the above integrated process; 
2. Confer benefits and subsidies on citizens and eligible residents based on the twin registers, NCR and NLRR; 
3. Diligently identify and deport all illegal residents; and, eliminate their names from various other identity databases, particularly voter lists; 
4. Ensure high levels of data quality, integrity, consistency and availability in the repository; 
5. Implement identification mechanisms that are highly robust, reliable and effective, besides being fraud- and tamper-proof.  

Data Capture and Repository Creation 

The current UIDAI approach is a ‘zero-based’ approach, which redundantly replicates efforts of other agencies and authorities. This is inherently flawed since it will bring in ineligible persons and illegal migrants into the system. 

Instead, an integrated approach should govern the data collection process (refer diagram below). The system should not only be compliant with constitutional provisions, but also have requisite parliamentary approvals and mandate.

  

 

System and Process Details 

The focus should be on unification of all “touch-points” and “data-addition or deletion points”, encompassing the following phases of the human life-cycle. 

A) Births & Deaths 

1. Digitize existing births and deaths records; 
2. Build a centralized repository of citizens by integrating all birth and death registries and databases;
3. Network all clinics, hospitals, maternity homes, primary healthcare & childcare centers and mobile healthcare units to enable automatic addition of citizen records in the central repository;  
4. Connect all cemeteries, crematoria, burial grounds, towers of death, cremation ghats, etc. with the central registry to enable automatic registration of deaths in the central repository; 
5. Capture child name and gender along with birth details and parental information;
6. Provide for the capture of biometric data of minors after they attain adulthood. Till then, identification is through parents and guardians. 

B) Immigration check-points 

1. Network all seaports, airports and border checkpoints to capture arrival and departure information of Indian citizens and foreign nationals. 
2. Provide for capture of biometric data of foreign nationals at immigration checkpoints. 
3. Prepare a repository of non-resident Indians and lawfully residing foreign nationals. 

C) Existing Identity Database Unification 

1. Merge all existing “identity databases”, such as driver’s licenses, passports, voter IDs, birth and death registries, Kisan Photo cards, PAN cards, ration cards, etc.; 
2. De-duplicate data based on residential addresses and birth records; 
3. Link biometric data collected by UIDAI (subject to statutory approvals) with consolidated itentity data; 
4. Codify and standardize residential address data available with panchayats, municipalities, utility companies and postal authorities to help make identities “unique” and eliminate redundancies. 

D) Unique Identity Creation & Verification 

1. Validate “unique identities (UI)” physically through household visits (as in the case of issue of ration cards); 
2. Capture biometric data of citizens and legal residents, subject to parliamentary approvals during physical verification; 
3. Make use of the census process as a validity check to: (a) eliminate fake, fraudulent identities, and; (b) clean the UI repository. The census exercise inherently provides a periodic mechanism for ensuring integrity; 
4. Delete all bogus or duplicate identities unearthed during physical verification and biometric matching; 
5. Deport / extradite all unlawfully-residing migrants of foreign origin identified during the verification process; 
6. Institute vigilance squads to independently verify “unique identities” through a random sampling process. 

Insofar as “unique identity” authentication is concerned, I am of the considered opinion that photo cards, with biometric and biographic data encoded into an embedded IC (with or without encryption), is a more elegant and effective solution. That is so, because it minimizes the potential for error and opportunity for misuse that are likely with a network-based authentication service. 

Final Remarks 

A detailed technical study and on-field pilot are indeed essential for ascertaining the feasibility of the "unique identification" system design. Furthermore, it would be prudent to implement the project in a phased manner. 

The long and short of it is that only an integrated (and not isolated) “unique identification system” can be effective in meeting the challenges of scale, scope, complexity, efficiency and effectiveness that India poses. 

Do you agree?