UID number to be issued soon: Nilekani

The Unique Identification Number, renamed 'Aadhaar', would be issued soon to Indian residents, Nandan Nilekani, chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said on Wednesday.

"We will issue the UID numbers in a few days," Nilekani said on the sidelines of AIMA convention in Kolkata.

He said in the first four years, 600 million people would be covered and the UID number would be useful for a number of applications like financial inclusion.

The unique identification numbers will take into account the database of the poor and the marginalised people, mostly living in the rural areas. The numbers will, for the first time, provide an identity to those who need it the most. The migrant population of India is a case in point, he said.

The UIDAI had discussed with the Reserve Bank of India for preparing the roadmap for financial inclusion with help of micro-ATMs, he said.

A unique eco-system would be created, he said, where the authority would be surrounded by registrars which would be banks, oil companies or public sector units. Nilekani said a big challenge which UID was facing was of duplication.

Giving UID number was akin to giving mobile identity to a person using biometric technology. What if someone changes his name and his father's name and attempts to apply for the same number twice, Nilekani said, 'attempting to apply for UID twice is a penal offence.'

Nilekani said the online verification of the UID number would be done in five to six seconds and would also work on the mobile network. To a query, he said implementation of the project would also require stable internal security.

The UID will contain very simple information: photograph, biometrics, name, father's name et cetera. The database will not contain someone's credit card transactions.

It will just authenticate certain facts about an individual. It will only verify if a certain person's claim for identity is true or not. Since the combination of numbers, personal details and biometrics are unique, they can never be duplicated.

This form of authentication can be embedded into various forms of services. For instance, with these numbers, a pensioner can go to a kirana store (a business partner of UIDAI), and can find out the details about the pension due to him by having his biometrics checked at the micro automated teller machine available with the storeowner.

If, for instance, Rs 300 is due to him, the kirana store owner will pay him the same amount from his drawer and have the same Rs 300 credited to his bank account.

Apart from the pension plan, Nilekani said, several pro-people services can be linked with this project. Nilekani said besides UIDAI, he was lending a helping hand to the government in setting up an electronic toll system on the highways and also planning an IT infrastructure for goods and services tax.

Hosting the session on 'Creating Launch Pad for the Next Stage of Growth' at the 37th National Management Convention in Kolkata, Vir Sanghvi, editorial director, HT Media asked why he left Infosys to join this project, he said, "The offer was made by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and I just could not say no."

"But most of us are of the opinion that the government, bureaucracy and politicians are dirty. Didn't you face any corruption while handling this project?" was Sanghvi's next salvo.

Nilekani was at his diplomatic best and said, "None at all. I was given a complete free hand and did not face the issue of dirty corruption at all."

To Sanghvi's query on, What would you have done if you were not in UIDAI?, the former Infosys boss said with a smile, "I would have any other plumbing job. I am very good at fixing things".

Comparing the youth of today with those of yesteryears, Nilekani said, "Today's generation is more global, competitive, skilled but very impatient. It doesn't believe in delayed gratification. The latter does have its value, as Infosys story would tell you."