I am One , I will become Many

At the beginning of TIME , the Creator said :

एको अहम् बहुस्याम

“ I am One , I will become Many “

In 21^st century, that “ Creator’s Desire “, seems to be playing out in the form of dozens of IDENTIFIERS that an Indian citizen needs during the life – notwithstanding the misery of having to submit SAME DATA again and again , to various State Agencies

There are dozens of such IDENTIFIER CARDS

For want of space, I have tried to compare the data requirement of only a few, in the following Comparative Chart ( - although somewhat incomplete )

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                                       DATA REQUIRED BY DIFFERENT CARDS

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Srl No	Data	Aadhar	PAN	Ayushman Bharat Gold Card	Ration Card	Senior Citizen Card	Driving License	Voter ID	Passport
1	Name	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
2	DOB	✔	✔	✔		✔	✔	✔	✔
3	Gender	✔	✔	✔		✔			✔
4	Address	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔	✔
5	Photo	✔	✔		✔		✔	✔	✔
6	Biometric	✔
7	Parents Detail		✔		✔	✔		✔	✔
8	Phone No		✔	✔		✔
9	Email ID		✔	✔

Notes :

Ø  This is not a comprehensive list. There are dozens of other Card / Identifiers

Ø  Even for those few listed above, I must have missed many data fields !

Ø  To acquire each of those listed here – and dozens which are not listed -, many other documents are required to be submitted while applying

Eg :

#   PAN requires, Aadhar and Source of Income

#   Ayushman Card requires, Aadhar – PAN - Income Certificate - Caste Certificate –

     Ration Card etc . There is a mind-boggling number of such “ requisites “

Ø  Not all such Cards / Identifiers can be applied for ONLINE. For many, one has to find some remotely located physical offices

Ø  Searching for URLs ( of relevant web sites ) and ADDRESSES for those OFFLINE locations, is a herculean task !

Ø  Compiling those “ Supporting Documents “ is an Obstacle Race !

Ø  Waiting in long queues , either for picking up an APPLICATION FORM or for submitting a duly filled form, is a nightmare

Ø  After getting some Card, it is literally impossible to get an EDITED one , in case of change of address etc.

 It can turn out to be a project spanning many months !

Ø          

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During the past 3 years, there is a lot of talk about making the lives of businessmen easy, through introduction of “ Ease of Doing Business “ index

How about making lives of Ordinary Citizen easy by having just ONE CARD to replace all these cards ?

Introduction of an “ Ease of Living “ index !

That reminded me of the following statement that the then Finance Minister , ( late ) Shri Jaitley had made in the Lok Sabha on 22 March 2017 :

“ A STAGE MAY COME THAT THE UNIQUE IDENTITY WILL BECOME THE ONLY CARD

There are many countries where such a situation exists. There is a social security number in America and in India it ( Aadhaar ) could be the counterpart “

[   source :   Aadhar : The Omnipresent ? /  22 March 2017 ]

 

And only yesterday, speaking at the launch of  “ NSE Knowledge Hub “, Shri Piyush Goyalji said :

 

“ AI would have huge potential in our lives, in our efforts ( towards ) ease of doing business, EASE OF LIVING and to help farmers double ( their ) income.

 

I see no area where we can’t use AI or machine learning……….. AI can be used in India for both economic activity and social good “

 

{ source : NSE arm launches AI-powered “ Knowledge Hub “to serve financial sector  ]

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And in my blog dt 30 Jan 2013 , I wrote :

 

“As if this was not enough , Central Government of India wants me to carry one more card !

National Population Register ( NPR ) is all set to issue,

 RESIDENT IDENTITY CARD ( RIC )

It will contain demographic and biometric details of the owner and will be issued to 820 million adult Indians at a cost of Rs 5,552 Crores

HOW ABOUT A CARD TO REPLACE ALL THE ABOVE-MENTIONED CARDS ?

[ source :   Raining Cards ?   /   30 Jan 2013 ]

( This was before NDA govt took over in 2014 )

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Now , since my original suggestion of 2013 , technology has made huge strides

Time has come to dispense with all physical cards and merge all of those into , one VIRTUAL CARD

My suggestion must be considered in the context of the following article appearing in today’s Times of India :

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Aadhaar at 10: taking stock 

 The unfinished work lies with the most vulnerable sections of society

( Authors :  Nandan Nilekani and Roopa Kudva )

Ø  Ten years later, the identification mission is nearly complete; 1.2 billion Indians – including 95% of adults – have an Aadhaar

Ø  The ‘State of Aadhaar’ report is based on the most extensive survey ever on Aadhaar.

Ø  Aadhaar collects only four pieces of personal information – name, age, gender and address – along with biometric data

Ø  Aadhaar provided the first identity document for an estimated 65-70 million individuals.

Ø  The most important thing that we learn from the survey is that in any ambitious, population-scale project, oversight happens. India anticipated many challenges, but there will always be those that no team, no matter how diverse, could conceive.

Ø  While designing such systems, governments must keep the most vulnerable sections of society in mind.

Ø  Aadhaar has created new features such as virtual IDs that help protect an individual’s privacy. As one would expect, adoption of these new digital features still has some way to go – only 23% of Indians have used them – but these are important steps towards a safer digital future for Indians.

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How can the Central Government go about replacing ALL physical cards with just one VIRTUAL card ?

If there is a “ Political Will “ ( - and followed by a one year long, debate with all sections of the society ), then I believe, more than one method / way , will emerge

As long as the debaters keep in mind the most important aspect of any proposed method, viz :

The method of “ merging “ of all identifiers  [ cards ] , must NOT require a citizen to fill up any FORM , online or offline

Following is my suggestion :

Ø  Central Govt to launch a online portal called,

www.SUIIC.gov.in

(  Single Unified Identity for Indian Citizen )

Ø  By appropriately enacted Law, Central Govt will order all CARD ISSUING AGENCIES to upload their “ Card Related Databases “ onto SUIIC web server and continue to do so DAILY for new additions to their databases

Ø   SUIIC will use AI - Machine Learning - Big Data Analytics etc.,  to merge / collate all kinds of structured / unstructured databases pertaining to all kinds of Cards / unique IDENTIFIERS, issued by any entity, to any citizen

These will include Mobile Service Providers and E Mail ID providers

Ø  This exercise will lead to creation of UNIQUE PROFILE for each citizen, and named :

YUP  ( Your Unique Profile )

YUP ( with unique serial number ) will be that SINGLE CARD which replaces all CARDS

Ø  YUP will also be the name of a Mobile App supported by SUIIC web server

Ø  Any citizen can download the YUP ( absolutely VOLUNTARY ) , open it on his smart phone , enter his mobile number / E Mail ID and take a SELFIE of his own FACE

Ø  The Mobile App will automatically and instantly, upload the FACE IMAGE onto SUIIC database and the matching YUP of that person

Ø  SUIIC will embed into the FACE PHOTO , all data of all the CARDS ever issued to that person ( using STEGANOGRAPHY ), and send it back to the owner’s mobile phone

Ø  Just under the FACE PHOTO, there will be a DROP LIST of all the Cards / Identifiers which have been embedded . Touching any item, will reveal the actual Physical Card

Ø  This will enable that citizen to EDIT his personal data online and click SUBMIT

Ø  Anytime required in future, that citizen can show that YUP photo to any party

Ø  There will be no compulsion for any citizen to use YUP . He may continue using his Physical Cards, if he so desires

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This is a very broad “ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK “ – and certainly not comprehensive by any standard

Eg :

Going beyond merging / aggregating / unifying , all existing physical cards belonging to a person, what about :

Ø  Enabling him to use YUP to create ( for the first time ), an altogether different card ?

Ø  Enabling a person to create a new Voter Card, upon attaining the age of 18 ?

I urge Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji to get this examined by some eminent technologists

With regards,

Hemen Parekh

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07 Jan 2020

hcp@RecruitGuru.com