At the beginning of TIME , the Creator said :
एको अहम् बहुस्याम
“ I am One , I will become Many “
In 21st 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 )
=========================================================
DATA REQUIRED BY DIFFERENT CARDS
=========================================================
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 !
It can turn out to be a project spanning many months !
Ø
=========================================================
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 ]
=========================================================
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 )
=========================================================
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 :
-------
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
========================================================
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,
( 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
======================================================
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
======================================================
07 Jan 2020
hcp@RecruitGuru.com