FEBRUARY 12, 2013

By Naresh Minocha, Our Consulting Editor

"GOVERNMENT of India is contemplating to issue the multi-purpose photo identity cards to all citizens. The proposal is to issue multipurpose National Identity Cards to all citizens of 14 years and above. The persons below 14 years are to be compulsorily registered under Registration of Births & Deaths Act, 1969 and the names of such persons are proposed to be included in father's/mother's cards. Separate coloured cards are proposed to be issued to non-citizens. The multipurpose National Identity Cards (MNICs) are proposed to be used for the purpose of issuing passports, driving licences, ration cards, health care, admission in educational institutions, employment in public/private sectors, life and general insurance as also for maintenance of land records and urban property holding etc.," said the then Home Minister L.K. Advani in Rajya Sabha on 10 th June 1998.

He added: "Multipurpose Identity Cards Scheme would in course of time replace the half completed identity cards scheme planned by the Election Commission earlier. All steps would be taken in coordination with the Election Commission (EC).”

About 15 years later, MNIC remains as distant a dream as ever. And this would remain so as long as the Government does not clear the mess it has created over multiple cards for citizens. There is bizarre convergence, divergence, dichotomy between different cards.

The clear-cut concept of MNICs was muddled when the UPA Government pushed for a parallel identity named Aadhaar in the second half of twenties without any valid rhyme or any reason for this grandiose parallelism under the aegis of Planning Commission.

There is indeed nothing unique about Aadhaar/unique identification number (UID). The very word ‘unique' is pinched from the original concept of Rs 10,000-crore MNICs project of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA).

According to the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003 issued under the Citizenship Act, 1955, "National Identity Number (NIN) means a unique identity number allotted to every Indian Citizen by the Registrar General of Citizen Registration, India.”

Consider the basics about three statutory identity cards or numbers first. Aadhaar would get statutory backing once the controversial National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) Bill, 2010 in enacted into a law. The two other national statutory cards are MNICs which is now referred to as Resident Identity (Smart) Cards (RICs) and the voter card/ Elector 's photo identify card (EPIC).

The Government has stated in Parliament that the Aadhaar number will be printed on RIC, which would come with the rider that "the card does not confer any right to citizenship to the card holder”!

Does this RIC would carry both NIN and Aadhaar/UID or only the latter? The existing rules neither provide for RIC nor for display of Aadhaar on it?

Apart from answering such questions, the Government must explain the reason for downgrading MNIC into RIC and thus virtually abandoning the nationalism-inspiring idea of NIC.

Now turn to the catch in the number game Aadhaar. NIAI Bill says: "The aadhaar number or the authentication thereof shall not, by itself, confer any right of or be proof of citizenship or domicile in respect of an aadhaar number holder.” Similarly, EPIC is an identity card for electoral purposes and not a document that confers citizenship or explicitly confirms nationality.

It is here pertinent to quote Government's reply to a question raised in Rajya Sabha in August 2011. "Though the Election Commission of India and Electoral Registration Officers take every precaution to ensure that no foreign national gets enrolled in voter list, the possibility of some foreign nationals getting enrolled by giving false declaration and getting issued Electoral Photo Identity Cards cannot be ruled out.”

The reply continues: "In the State of Assam, the electors whose citizenship is either doubtful or disputed are called ‘D' (‘doubtful') voters and letter ‘D' is marked against their entries in the electoral rolls to identify them. Their cases are referred to the appropriate authorities for determining their citizenship status. Their names are, however, not deleted from the electoral roll but they are not allowed to cast the vote till their cases are favourably disposed of by the appropriate authorities / tribunals. In Assam, Electors Photo Identity Cards (‘Voter Cards') are not being issued.”

If an Indian can't proof categorically his/her nationality with any of these three statutory cards or numbers, is he/she expected to apply for passport to prove the citizenship?

The public has a right to expect a sincere reply from the Government as it had amended The Citizenship Act 1955 in 2003 to specifically provide for issue of NICs.

The Union Cabinet is yet to put its act (or mind?) together on this subject if the latest news on differences within the Cabinet is any indication. On 31 st January, the Cabinet reportedly decided to set up a group of ministers (GOM) to resolve the issue whether Aadhaar is just a number or an identity card after stalwarts within the Government described it in varied and bewildering ways over the last few months.

Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia says "Aadhaar is actually a number, linked to that number is a biometric record which is centrally stored. The (Aadhaar) number comes in a form of card. But that card is not an identity card."

Mr. Ahluwalia is treading cautiously as Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the entity set to introduce and govern Aadhar, is currently not a statutory authority. It is not empowered to issue any identity card to citizens. This, however, cannot hide the fact that Aadhar is a de facto identify establisher with or without card.

UIDAI describes Aadhaar as a 12-digit individual identification number that "will serve as a proof of identity and address, anywhere in India.” UIADI website also clarifies that Aadhaar is not "another card”. With regard to financial transactions, A UIDAI presentation dated 16 January 2013 describes Aadhaar as "Unified Identifier.”

For Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, Aadhaar-enabled delivery of welfare benefits is "pure magic”. But for Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, believes "Aadhar is not a magic wand.”

Congress Vice-President Rahul Gandhi and a potential PM considers Aadhaar-enabled direct cash transfers (DCT) as the key to winning the next two general elections!

Aadhaar is thus much more than number not only for politicians but also the man in the street. Look at the mad rush to get Aadhaar enrollment in cities like Mumbai and Hyderabad.

It has also served as a money-spinning opportunity to peddlers of fake cards. Last month, Mumbai police arrested two brothers who did brisk business in peddling such cards. The police reportedly seized 100 fake Aadhar cards, 80 PAN cards, 13 birth certificates, 10 driving licences, 10-20 voter identity cards and ration cards from them.

Aadhaar is actually a god-sent opportunity for illegal immigrants to legitimatize their presence on Indian soil. The procedure for Aadhaar enrollment is so lax that anyone can get registration without any documentary proof. All he has to do is get introduced by an ‘introducer'!

For issue of Aadhaar, UIDAI accepts documents from applicants who have some kind of documents which can work as proof of identity and proof of address.

As put by the Government, "For those who have no documents (there are a large number of persons in India who fall in this category), the concept of ‘introducers' has been introduced. These ‘introducers' are authorized by the registrars and may include local Government officials and elected representatives. Enrolments through introducers, while enabling enrolments for those who do not have any documents, do not compromise the robustness of the process.”

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance's (PSCF's) in its report recommending cancellation of NIAI Bill has devoted one chapter on security loopholes of Aadhaar system. In its report submitted in December 2011, PSC has cited documents of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and other entities to drive home the security concerns.

There have also been reports of violations of UIDAI guidelines by different agencies nominated by it for aadhaar enrollments. In an answer to Rajya Sabha question dated 3 May 2012, the Government itself named four entities that violated its guidelines.

We can hope that the public interest litigation cases filed in High Courts and Supreme Court would result in an appropriate verdict in the interest of national security.

Without waiting for fresh judicial rap on its knuckles, the Government should address security concerns as Aadhaar numbers are to be printed on RICs. This opens up a big avenue for illegal migrants to acquire RICs through the Aadhaar channel.

Under the bizarre scheme of things, the Government has divided the country into Aadhaar States and National Population Register (NPR) states for collection of biometric data about population. In 18 States where Aadhaar enrollment has gained foothold, NPR authorities readily accept Aadhaar biometric data once an applicant flaunts Aadhaar, which is easy to get through private entities operating as registrars and introducers.

This division has even baffled Mr. Jairam Ramesh. In an interview with a pink daily published last month, he stated: "I don't see any reason for continuing with this distinction. I don't see any reason why UID can't enroll beneficiaries even in the so-called NPR states. They can be enrolled based on the Adhaar number.”

NPR is the gateway for issue of NICs/RICs to citizens by Office of Registrar General India (ORGI), a statutory authority under MHA.

The overlap between Aadhaar and NPR becomes clear from the Government's reply to a question put last month in Rajya Sabha. The reply reads as: "The biometric data captured for enrollment through National Population Register (NPR) and for Aadhaar is the same. At the time of enrolment through NPR, the resident is also enrolled for Aadhaar. Hence, a resident who has enrolled through NPR need not enroll for Aadhaar number again.”

There is grave risk of Aadhaar-RIC exercise turning out to be a vote-bank gimmick and corruption opportunity for some to turn illegal migrants into de facto Indians!

Instead of printing aadhaar on RIC, why not make RIC into an enabler for digital provision of various welfare benefits to the masses?

As stated by the Government in Parliament in September 2012, "A Technical Committee has also established the feasibility of using RIC for multi-applications, for providing services including the offline/online verification and authentication of the beneficiaries. This would also add to the service delivery capabilities of the Government.”

There is no reason why RIC can perform the same functions as assigned to Aadhaar. This brings one back to the 1998 concept of MNICs, which was mooted by NDA Government but muddled by the UPA.

The objectives for which UIDAI was created in 2009 were already built-in the MNIC project. Had the UIDAI been set up through the standard inter-ministerial consultations that results in preparation of Cabinet Note, one Ministry or the other would have questioned the duplication of work through UIDAI and that too without legal authority.

MNIC project should have executed at the turn of the century under EC, which has had the largest database of population. What was needed was identification of illegal migrants while upgrading database with biometric information about each voter and prospective voters (14-18 age group).

When MNIC got delayed, the project could have implemented and expedited as joint endeavour of EC-NPR. There was certainly no justification, except political, to create the aadhaar empire.

MNIC proposal took off only after the group of ministers on reforming the national security system recommended in 2001 that all citizens should be given a MNIC.

MNIC, as a pilot project, was initiated in April, 2003 was originally expected to completed in a year's time covering approximately a population of 29 lakhs in certain sub-districts of these States.

The Government slipped in achieving its targets in the MNIC arena. The then Home Minister P. Chidambaram, for instance, at twice stated in 2009 that such cards would be issued to all citizens by 2011. The revised target is not available in the public domain.

Had UPA not created identity crisis for citizens, thousands of crores of rupee being invested on Aadhaar would have been saved. The multiple identify numbers or cards business is a fit case for probe either by a Comptroller General of India (CAG) or by a Supreme Court-overseen commission of enquiry.