Aadhaar Is A Game Changer But Its Success Depends On How It Is Used

Both the hope and the fear are over-stated, though both have some basis.

This government as well as the predecessor government, which initiated Aadhaar, have long argued that the unique identity number, supported by biometric data, will ensure that government doles go only to those truly deserving them. Success stories were trotted out about how use of Aadhaar managed to bring down leakages in various schemes, notably the public distribution system (PDS) in Andhra Pradesh.

Aadhaar will certainly help curb duplication. Since the enrolment process involves a de-duplication exercise (where a person’s biometrics are run through the database to ensure that she does not have an entry under some other name), the chances of one person having two or more ration cards or bank accounts become close to nil. Diversion of food grains and kerosene from the PDS are invariably based on duplicate and fake ration cards (there are other methods of diversion but this is a foolproof one). There have admittedly been problems with Aadhaar – trees and animals have got cards – but it is the best weeding out exercise that is there right now.

That said, Aadhaar by itself will not do that; its use for this purpose will need to be expressly stated. So, governments will have to bring in and enforce a rule that ration cards or BPL (below poverty line) cards will only be given to people with Aadhaar numbers. Or that old-age pensions will only be paid into Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

This problem of whom to exclude can be addressed with the results of the socio-economic caste census (SECC). The data enables the tracking of the socio-economic status of individual households (only the rural SECC data is out for now). So a person already living in a pucca house cannot apply for a grant under the Indira Awas Yojana. Aadhaar will come into the picture only when a person identified as living in a kuchcha house applies for benefit under the Indira Awas Yojana and the money is paid into an Aadhaar-linked bank account. But this again requires a political decision to go strictly by the SECC data. If political arms of governments pussy-foot on this, Aadhaar will not help in trimming the subsidy bill.

What, then, of privacy concerns? The main concern of the opponents of Aadhaar (it unites both the right and the left) is that it can be used by intelligence spooks and tax babus to go on random fishing expeditions, tracking people’s movements and financial dealings and more. The fact that Aadhaar enrolment does not involve collecting any information other than date of birth and permanent address does not reassure them.

There could be some ground for this apprehension, considering Aadhaar is increasingly becoming compulsory for opening bank accounts, PAN cards and passport. The Act says even a private entity can ask for Aadhaar to verify a person’s identity, which means one may have to give one’s Aadhaar number even when taking a cell phone connection. This is, indeed, worrying. Fortunately, the current Act has more safeguards on sharing of information and circumstances under which information can be revealed than the National Identification Authority of India Bill tabled by the previous government. But the vague definition of `national security’ as the circumstance does not give much comfort that the provision will not be misused.

The best way to address this concern is by restricting the mandatory use of Aadhaar to only those wanting to avail of government welfare services and not all government services. If a person does not want to avail LPG subsidy, why should he be forced to link his Aadhaar card to his bank account or make it mandatory for opening a bank account, since a person is legally entitled to have different accounts? Insisting on Aadhaar for passports makes sense – it could tackle the problem of fake passports – but why does one need it for PAN cards and filing of income tax returns? Why should Aadhaar be mandatory for registering property transactions, including rent agreements?

Once these concerns are addressed, there will be little basis for opposing Aadhaar on grounds of privacy. After all, there are enough safeguards against stealing of biometric information. If those worrying about privacy are still not convinced, then they need to suggest an alternative solution for a leakage-proof delivery of welfare services.