Last post
As you may have heard, I’ve been appointed as the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India. I’m grateful for all your congratulations and best wishes.
In my new role, I can no longer comment on government policy. So this means the end of this blog. The blogging format was new to me, and I greatly enjoyed writing here and listening to your thoughts these past few months.
Many people have asked me why I accepted this appointment. I have long been a champion of a reform approach that is inclusive of the poor, and in my book, I described unique identity as one of the key steps for achieving this goal. Giving every individual in India a unique identification number can go a long way in enabling direct benefits, and fixing weak public delivery systems, giving the poor access to better healthcare, education, and welfare safety nets. When Prime Minister Manmohan Singh offered me the opportunity to head the UIDAI, I saw it as a chance to help enable ideas I have supported for a long time.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 am
Congrats Nandan… There couldnt be a better choice than you for the project. However i would request you to create the system in a such a way that it cannot be bypassed by our babus and politicians like other indian ids… Waiting for the website and ready to chip in in what ever ways i can…
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:52 am
All the best sir. Hope that India becomes a better place one day with people like you taking the high government jobs!!
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Dear Nandan,
There is a mailer which states about your displeasure and “not so good” experience of your first day at the parliament. I am curious to know whether it is actually written by you? If not,then I believe we should do something about it. As it is spoiling the whole idea and the enormous pleasure we felt being the citizen of this country. Your selection in rebuilding the nation has surely brought a lot of hope to people like us.
Best Regards and Wishing you the best of luck,
Sunando
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Thank you sir for writing articles in your log for the last few months. It has been a pleasure reading your articles and of course your book.
Regards,
Priyankar
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:11 pm
Sir, 30 to 40% of Indian use cell phone now, i think this will reach very close to 70% in couple of years time. There is much scope to link this unique id with cell phone number ( also mobile number portability is coming in effect)and keeping autority of allocating the mobile number with Govt will improve the security. Which will help to information sharing with common people. Now we have lot of voice based service in Telecommunication which will enable us to keep common man informed about his benefits from Govt and other messages which unique to him. They don’t even need to know to read and write to use this features.
I also belive we should start the CHANGE from the schools, it is very easy to start your unique number allocation starting from the schools. We need to then extend it to banks and other organizations. Which will easy the implementation effort.
Thx, Jay
(I work as solution manager mobile commu.)
July 23rd, 2009 at 12:42 pm
Thank You Sir, Thanks for joining the place that is in mess. you are the only one who can make a difference.
Waiting for you to go on full fledge, I would be keen to join you. Would always be ready to chip in what ever ways i can. Please give an opportunity.
Regards
Pooja
July 23rd, 2009 at 1:26 pm
Dear Mr. Nilekani,
I think it’s wonderful that the PM asked you - but even more fantastic that you accepted! I can only imagine the all the weighing of pros and cons to arrive at such a difficult decision.
My two bits of suggestions for the UID project:
We should first attack at the base so that no new data gets generated wrongly. In other words - at hospitals at the time of birth - make it mandatory that every child when born gets a Unique ID - in the birth certificate - like a Social Security Number in the US.
Next attack the other end - people dying need a death certificate - make sure each such event gets logged into the UID - either tagged to someone already in the system or by creation of a new record in the system - print the UID in the Death certificate.
This will at least get the new data correct - and then begins the onerous task of getting the existing population into the system.
For existing data, a good way to quickly get off the ground would be to provide a self-service portal where people with existing ID (like a passport) can logon and self-register, provide proof-of-ID and submit an application. This will make it much easier than to do a data collection effort. The applications can be scrutinized against the other ID database (passport) and if okay - can be integrated into the UID. I think the NSDL model is a great approach for this.
Of course that would take care of more urban than rural population - the primary political target for the UID. But there will be ways - for example take the Yashashwini database in Karnataka and you will get a good bunch of the population into the system with relatively “correct” info!
All the best!
Anand
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:02 pm
I thoroughly enjoyed your valuable comments via this blog.
Now, you are in a new role lets hope for the best, and may our govt. read your book in order to shape up the nation in a positive way.
The concept of UIDAI website is very encouraging.
All the best sir.
Regards
Alok Singh
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:11 pm
Go India Go…
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
I am *deeply* disappointed at your future absence from this blog. I am sure, you have earned far more fans thru” blogging. Surely, you can continue to blog with some sort of disclaimer ?
If you ever wanted s/w development from community (sourceforge style), you just have to ask us.
Once again, all the best for your new post.
July 23rd, 2009 at 2:29 pm
I amd my room mate here in Dubai often discuss you, Mr. Namdan. It gives us a mixed feeling to know that you are at the most challenging job of these times. Our country is sick of the disease called ‘corruption’. All of us know, the root of this lies in the politics. But, we don’t see a antidote for this in the near future.
However, the fruits of your efforts as the Chief of UIDAI would serve as a tonic for our nation and help her fight ‘corrupt politics’ in a more effective way.
By the way, is there any avenue for me and my friend to join you in this holy endeavour ?
If yes, kindly drop me a line at js123india@yahoo.com
Regards.
Jitendra
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm
It’s great to see someone of your stature sharing his views through blogging. I hope you get time to blog about UIDAI experiences. All the best.
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:10 pm
Dear Nandan,
Thanks for writing the blog, which helped a lot to understand your book better. Wish you all the best for your new role. Still you are the role model for many up-coming enterprenuers.
With warm Regards
Girish Ayya
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Dear Nandan - This is the magic government has. The sensible person who always expressing & using freedom - liberty to lead the confused ones, all of a sudden declares that he will no more comment on government policy. Is this a gain or loss to all of us ?
July 23rd, 2009 at 3:45 pm
Dear Nandan,
Its an honour for us Indians that you are leading this initiative. Wishing you best of health and luck to take this to completion.
I have written to you with my desire in joining you for this initiative. Do let me know.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:22 pm
We will wait for the UIDAI website and chances to get engaged.
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:31 pm
Here’ s wishing you every success in this noble mission. Unfortunately, I stumbled upon the blog on its last day.
My gut feel says you are going to experience some hardships, nuisance value and stiff opposition from certain quarters. May the almighty give your strength and stamina to overcome all obstacles.
Warm regards
Sudhir
July 23rd, 2009 at 5:32 pm
Hello Sir,
Well after a great hoopla of congratulations for UID project, the onerous task of actual execution will start. I have no doubt that a person of your intellect must have already given a huge thought about varios facets of this execution.
A few thoughts from my side -
1) We need to make a database for whole of India and it will be such that it will continue to get updated. A lot of brainstorming and thought process has to go towards the fields which need to be added in the database. There should be a combination of both constant and variable fields. The constant field can be either single or a combination which should actually be unique for each person. These keys should be such which will reamin constant from the moment person is born and till he dies. The next set of variable fields should be such which can be updated during the due course of life time of a person. We should aim and formulate a roadmap wherein gradually every activity in India be made dependent on this UID card-medical, schooling, food, housing,banking,etc only this way people especially in far flung rural areas will be forced to give their entries right from the birth time till death.
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:00 pm
Congratulation Sir.
Its nice to see people like you working for the govt.
We hope, the security of India will improve through the Unique I-card. Now India is full of illegal migration from Bangladesh, Nepal, Pakistan and other neighboring country who get easily a voter ID card or passport. Things has gone to the extent that such people are sitting in the parliament. More than 50 L illegal people are staying in India(specially in the North east)causing a big security issue. There is no action from Govt on them for various political reasons. Nobody understand the sentiment of Indian citizen staying in that region.
Once this project will come up, we hope, these people will be identified as illegal(whoever came to India illegally after 1952) and will not be provided such I-card(the way they get voter id card).
Now you are the only hope for the people of that region and for India to make a better and safe India.
Thanks Sir.
Warm Regards,
Manju
July 23rd, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Hello Sir,
Congrats and All the Best. I would like to extend my whole hearted support to the project as I have good experience in architecting, managing and tuning large databases. Please let us know how to volunteer for UIDAI Project and server our motherland.
Regards
Satyendra
July 23rd, 2009 at 8:46 pm
Congratulations and All the Best. But, I think you should continue blogging. You don’t have to write about stuff you cannot write about. Write about the movies you saw, the latest in s/w development, world economics etc etc..but please continue to write.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:16 pm
Sir,
Congratulations and All the best sir. I wish to convey that I would like to become a part of this project and do the best I could. I have project experience in oil sector.
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Dear Mr Nilekani,
Will there still be an email id where you might be available?
Best Regards,
Anirban
July 23rd, 2009 at 11:50 pm
Hello Sir,
My hearty congratulations on your new endeavor.
You have to continue writing the blog with some disclaimer as said in one of the previous comments. You do not need to write about politics or other government policies. Especially you have to write about Education reforms in detail. May be you would have already written it in your book which I have not yet read. I am working on a plan to give exposure and practical knowledge to school kids. Mostly to Govt. school kids who lack infrastructure, proper classes and good teachers with updated knowledge. So your ideas on education reforms in schools may help me and other volunteers to try those ideas with kids around our village. Please consider writing further.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:48 am
Dear Nandan,
I was searching for UIDAI website in google and found your blog, so waiting eagerly for active website where we can track the project related information,technology, documents and implementation details.
Till now I was following news paper articles and few blogs to know about this project. Many suggestion posted by others in this blog also useful for the success of the project. Also i would like to know how start up companies or small companies can benefit out of this project.
All the best for your whole team.
July 24th, 2009 at 1:33 am
Dear Nandan,
When I heard the news of your appointment, it was like a breath of fresh air. A technocrat and his/her corporate nature in the government is what India needs in today’s fast moving world. I had written about this very idea a month back in my blog (abhijiths-pithiness.blogspot.com), where I tried drawing both pros and cons for having technocrats govern India or at least play a pivotal role. The likes of someone like Montek Singh becoming the Finance Minister is what inspired me to vision a nation to a corporate.
So today with a feeling of hope, expectation and sense of pride being a fellow Bangalorean , I would like to congratulate you on your new responsibility.
I would also like to offer you my support and help in any way to carry this initiative to its success.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:49 am
Yes, India is really shining now. Along with UIDAI the government should setup a securty agency (like homeland dept at US) to fight with terror/insurgency.
July 24th, 2009 at 6:30 am
Dear Sir,
I was really happy to hear the news of your appointment. I have a suggestion to make regarding the Unique Identification Number. My suggestion ” Voluntary Disclosure of Information by Citizens” to aid your Odyssey. You can start a website and then bring out a propaganda in Media to register for Unique Identification Number. I am sure most of the working class of ur society will make use of this and it will to some extent reduce your burden
July 24th, 2009 at 7:16 am
Dear Nandan,
After I hear about UIDAI initiative I was so excited and happy about our India. Every one know people do what ever they wish and want but some how they used to escape from the punishment. Amazing thing is selecting you as a Head to carry out this challenging task. I’d suggest you go inquire all the countries in the world and make this system unbreakable, more robust and better than any other country. Good luck !
-Raghu
July 24th, 2009 at 8:35 am
I think this is a fabulous initiative and the starting point of harnessing the huge demographic advantage India will have as we grow to having the largest productive age population in the years to come. The only way to improve the lot of people is first to be be able to know/track them!
This project has been long overdue, but still I think this is the right time. The US SSN system is great, but as you had pointed out, it and most others was developed in the post great depression time - where the technology severely limited the scope and usage. With the latest technology, the possibilities are outstanding. But in my oponion, the greatest challenge will not be just issuing it, but really getting everyone to use it - right from govt. to businesses to each and every application that one fills. In my humble opinion and experience, that is why SSN is so pervasive
Would be interested in working with this project - leveraging my experience with Govt, nonprofits and businesses in the US and here. You can contact me if interested.
July 24th, 2009 at 11:39 am
The task at had is quite challenging and would be epoch making for the country.
Many have attempted small steps in this direction and failed (Like Unique Id for Health Insured, Id’s for Hospitals on the insurance network; where I happen to share the failures).
There are many success stories like the PAN Number project of the IT Dept., the Voter Id. system, the Passport numbering system etc.
A work of this magnitude would require a multi pronged approach for creating an error-free, duplicate-free database. Interaction with multiple agencies and the humility to discard and rewrite one’s hypotheses depending on practicalities would be essential. There should be dynamic systems that run pararallel and capture changes due to births and deaths. There are many untapped databases like Consumers of Electricity, Cooking Gas, Telephone Connections, Schools and the postal network.
The job would be definitely interesting and a big challenge to all the team members. Mr. Nilekani would require a lot of good wishes from all Indians for dealing with challenges arising from political reasons, red tapism, inefficiency, corruption, lethargy, resistances to change etc. etc.
July 24th, 2009 at 12:01 pm
Dear Mr. Nilekani,
First off, many congratulations on this honorable assignment. I was so happy to see our Government taking this forward looking initiative of involving such an eminent and established personality as yourself.
Lastly, my pitch (!) - for some reason this morning, I felt tremendously excited about the scope of this project and its use to my country and wondered if I could contribute my 2 cents to the success of it. I do believe I have direct experience which is probably relevant and more importantly a passion that might be paramount in such a gargantuan exercise.
If there is an avenue where I can convey what I bring I would like to convey the same. Consequently, if I could be of assistance either directly or indirectly, it would be a self-actualization experience of my life.
Wishing you all success,
Prashanth
July 24th, 2009 at 3:17 pm
I wish you a successful venture.. I hope this role of your will inspire a lot of others.
July 24th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Congrats sir! Pls do keep on tweeting. Mr. @ShashiTharoor is tweeting regularly. SO I hope u too are not restricted from tweeting.
July 24th, 2009 at 8:28 pm
Hi Nandan,
All the best.
All the best. It would be an humongous task. But after building one of the finest companies from scratch amidst n number of challenges, i am sure you will be able to prove your mettle in this project as well. However, making the bureaucrats accountable and co-ordinating their efforts will be the biggest challenge. Anyway, you are minister Nilekani now and must be able to call the shots
July 25th, 2009 at 12:09 am
Hello Nandan,
It is reassuring for me to know that someone as ethical and efficient as you is in charge of such a crucial project. Here’s wishing you all the very best for one of the bigger challenges of your career yet.
July 25th, 2009 at 8:47 am
Hello Nandan,
I do not think that doing a project with the govt means you have to shut down this blog. Yes, maybe not comment about it but you can still write about other general things?
July 25th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
congrats,
it is a great pleasure to see you as the head of this project.
as u have pointed that this unique id will help
“enabling direct benefits, and fixing weak public delivery systems, giving the poor access to better healthcare, education, and welfare safety nets”
very well task taken..
hoping for a great india ahead…
thanks
regards
Santosh
July 25th, 2009 at 3:32 pm
Dear Mr Nilekani,
I join the millions of fellow citizens, who support your passion of making a difference to the future lifestyles of all Indians.
A small suggestion…
Maybe we could introduce a system/process that allows individuals to bid/pay for prefereed Unique identification numbers ,of course as per clearly laid down parameters.Something akin to process followed by Mobile telecom companies and also automobile registration authorities.Probably the entire project could thus pay for itself.
The IT sector has flourished without state sponsorship/funding in India, a fact well known to all.Probably the UIADI may like to explore a similar scenario as envisaged above.
Warm regards and sincere good wishes,
Chetan Mehra
July 26th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Hi Nandan,
All the very best & hearty congratulations.
I have a question regarding UIN project.
why only FINGER PRINT recognition for UIN , why not RETINAL recognition along with FINGER PRINT recognition ?
my point is when we had taken the step, why to some extent only why not to the fullest possible extent? It will reduce the number of ways to misuse the Identity .
I feel this project has to start from scratch instead of using any previously existing databases. To avoid repetition of flaws in the existing databases into UIN project.
Highly interested to join you in this great endeavor, looking forward for your response.
Regards,
Gnaneswar
July 26th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
Dear Nandan,
This can be a revolutionary event in governing in India. I am sure that like me, there are a lot of people with who want to contribute and be part of this. We are eagerly awaiting for the website of UIDAI.
July 27th, 2009 at 3:12 pm
I am confident that you would be able to steer clear all the red tape to get me my UIN in about a year and a half from now…..
India’s time to shine has come!!!!!!!!
July 27th, 2009 at 5:00 pm
Hi NN, you are already a star in the corporate india and now you are in the government. My one cent.. dont expect the same type of efficiency in the government set up. You may have to keep your cool more than once. Remember the great leaders and parliamentarians who had worked in those noisy situations.
We just started our blog agregator called BlogChai and this blog is mentioned in the top and now you are leaving! We miss you a lot NN!
Osai Chella
“Founder, BlogChai.com
“Your Daily cup of Blog Chai with that desi flavour”
July 30th, 2009 at 11:27 am
Hi Sir,
First of all My hearty congrats on behalf of all true Indians.
Its pleasure watching a passionate Indian walking on the corridors of Parliament of India with lots of dreams for the people.
We appreciate your commitment towards your first assignment to the country(UIADI) and all the best for that. Also,we would like you to bring more wonders and delighted to watch India coming up with youngsters and professionals lifting from the bottom.
July 30th, 2009 at 3:02 pm
Dear Mr .Nikelani
My name is santosh shinde and i have completed B-tech and my percentage is 57. I have done job as a web tester for 1.5 yrs. I am doing my mba in distance mode. I need a suggestion from you regarding to go for M-tech or mba in distance mode will be useful.
Sorry for posting my query in blog.
Thanks,
S.Santosh
July 31st, 2009 at 6:36 am
Hi, i just wanted to add one thing..
“Get it right the first time”
Not just considering issues we face now makes a difference by this ID proj. we need to consider issues that we may face in next 50-100years and address those issues as well in the current project.
August 5th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
Dear Mr Nilekani
I hadnt seen enough debate on this issue of identity card project in India. I wish there were- However now that things are moving forward, I am hopeful that you might be able to take a deeper view on the issue. Pl refer to this Link in LSE on identity card project- incase it might be useful to expand the conceptual framework and hence probably policy instruments. http://www.identityproject.lse.ac.uk/
regards -Jayaraj PhD student from LSE.
August 5th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Dear Sir,
I respect your approach and sincerity.
At the same time I wonder, why you should stop writing. You can avoid commenting on Govet. Policy, but there are so many things you can write about and inspire Young India to help building better India.
I still see one of Minister of Mr. Manmohan Singh’s cabinet is twittering and giving time to time updates of his activities.
Please consider this request and keep writing.
Digambar
August 14th, 2009 at 10:47 pm
Congrats on holding such a valuable post and the opportunity to bring reform. The thought of unique identification is the need of hour brought int thought by you and I wish a great success to UIDAI project so benefits reach to the right person in right time. All the best sir and u will continue to be an inspirational source for those who thinks reformative and want to make BETTER INDIA.
August 18th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
Like u mentioned abt Tom Friedman’s book being on pirated list, I also bought it off a pirate stall (I am sorry for that and I feel the whole book is worth the actual price - I am even planning to get an original and give this back to some second hand shop or library). The book was a pleasure to read through, highly inspirational, covers almost that the country has seen. I was born in 1976 and so can relate to at least half the period covered. I found it similar in style to Tom Friedman’s The World is Flat. Both are must reads, this one for every Indian. FEELING PROUD TO BE BORN IN THE LUCKIEST NATION OF THIS CENTURY. Wish u all the best Sir, for the UID project.
August 22nd, 2009 at 12:20 pm
ET dt 21/8/09 page 11 “UID may become your cell no.” I have an innovative idea about unique identity no of all the citizens of India which can be his mobile no or any other no such as driving licence, PAN card etc. It is 12 digit. first 6 digit is date of birth “YYMMDD” for example my DOB is 12Jun1956 than first 6 number is 560612. Next 6 numbers are serial number. On any day birth rate is not more than “999999″. This number is easy to remember for any individual and simple and unique.
August 22nd, 2009 at 8:12 pm
Dear Sir,
My hearty congratulations on taking up this reponsibility.
It is indeed a Herculean task to bring about the Unique Identification System. I am sure we would progress in a rapid pace under your able leadership.
I am a software engineer. I would like to volunteer in the UID initiative. It would be highly helpful if you can please keep us updated on oppurtunities to be a part of the system.
Thanks,
Aruna
August 23rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Hello Nandan,
I think the purpose of this initiative is just limited to tracking the distribution of benefiets by the government to the poors through it’s scheme.
My question is when we are spending so much of Tax payer’s money why are we not optimizing the outcome of it through this project?
I think the card should also be capable of tracking the earnings and expenditures of citizens across sectors on real time basis, as it will help to have control even in unregulated sectors and will generate more revenue for the country in terms of direct tax collections.
Let’s not forget that huge chunk of our population although earn good amount of money, does dot contribute to taxes and pressures is high only on salaried class of people.
Please do something fast and introduce the mechanishm which will provide true and real time status of earnings/expenditures for allthe citizens much on the similar format of credit/debit cards.
This project should also envisage ban of cash transactions above a certain limit e.g 1500/- and tansactions should be done only through the UID cards.
August 25th, 2009 at 5:38 pm
Dear Mr. Nilekani,
As your customer rightly pointed out, if Infosys campus can be so good, our roads definetely also can. Travelling in our roads in my state in Kerala, I feel so irritated against the contractor, pwd engineer in charge and the system as such. In each road, we can have a board with name, photo, address and other relevant details of the contractor, the pwd engineer and also the pwd office in charge of the work, , which will bring them into public notice. I sure am unaware of the technicalities involved, and this sure is an idea from a layman, but I felt this should brought up in some forum.
August 26th, 2009 at 9:48 am
SOCIAL NETWORKING FOR CITIZEN REGISTRY SITE
I would suggest that UIDAI should launch a website where citizens can do social networking. All citizen details such as voter id,ration card details etc can be posted by the government and the people will temselves integrate the records. This way citizens can themselves help in building records that too in a short time and at very little cost.
August 28th, 2009 at 9:29 am
Dear Sir,
Dear Sir,
Congratulations on your new assignment on the Unique Id Project. I think this will bring enormous changes in our society if implemented properly. I have couple of suggestions as mentioned below.
This Unique ID database should capture following minimum information
1. Name
2. Address
3. Educational Qualifications
4. Photo
5. Biometric information
6. Some way to link his parents and children. So this unit of information is linked with another unit of information through family relations. (Linked List)
Following organization should implement an interface to UID database (which is maintained in a centralized/distributed server)
1. Bank/Financial House/Stock Market/Mutual Fund Company: All transactions should use UID. All big ticket financial transactions should be synchronized with central database once in a week. It should be possible to track all financial transactions done by one individual by providing UID of that person. This will be helpful for intelligence agency and Income Tax department.
2. UID should be provided for Railway/Flight ticket booking. This information can be synchronized with central UID information server. This information will help intelligence agency to track any person’s movement.
3. All registered organization in India should have access to UID information repository and should be able to retrieve minimal information about the user. (e.g. photo and home address) This will help to remove Fake UID card. For example if a person goes to buy a mobile connection, he cannot provide Fake ID because connection provider can immediately access central database through internet and can verify address and photo of the person. But all these organizations should not be able to access personal and financial information of individual. Only Tax and intelligence agency should be able to view all information.
4. Hospital/School/College/Passport/Ration Card/All other possible documentation (property docs, credit & debit card etc) should include this UID. This information should be synchronized with central server.
5. If a person shift to a different location then he should update his current address within 7 days. He should be able to do it online from some kiosk, police station upon biometric verifications.
6. In case person forgets his UID, it should be easily searchable by his name, date of birth and permanent home address.
Our intelligence agency should be able to retrieve following details from UID:
1) Bank and investment details
2) Passport and PAN details
3) Current address
4) Travel information (present and past)
5) School, college, educational info
6) Property information
7) Birth/Death information
Phone/Mobile details
How this will help
1. It will be impossible to escape tax net and corruption will be zero because all transactions will be tracked against UID and also it will not be possible to have duplicate UID because it can verified against central repository. If everybody starts paying tax, then tax burden on common man will decrease and also Government can use excess money on different type of developments.
2. Computer can generate automated alert for investigative agency based on certain criteria like big amount of financial transactions not matching to his salary, travelling to suspicious country. Intelligence agency can narrow down searches and monitor such individuals.
3. Because of biometric database, it will be easy to solve criminal case by searching finger print and other details in existing database.
August 31st, 2009 at 3:02 pm
29th Aug 2009.
The Chief Election Commissioner,
Government of India. New Delhi.
Fax: 011 23739933
Sub: Election ID card, Issuing duplicates.
Dear sir.
Recently, I changed my address and had to go through a process to get the address on my ID card changed.
During interaction with the officials, I could notice three flaws.
1. A person may end up having two cards.
2. A person may end up having two cards with different addresses.
3. The cards taken back by the officers may be misused.
Case-1:
In case of lost cards they asked people to submit a police diary and issued a duplicate card. It is possible that the card was never lost and the person may end up having two cards. I do not know what precaution is being taken to prevent this.
Case -2
In case of change of address, the officer asked me why I was taking a new card. I replied that it was a case of change of address. Hence, he asked me to return my old card.
Just in case I had said that the new card was being taken in lieu of lost card, there was no system to know if I had lied. Then I would have ended up with two cards bearing two different addresses.
Case-3
The cards taken back from me should have been defaced / destroyed in my presence or should have been returned to me after complete defacement as in case of passports.
The cards can be misused in the present system.
Thanking you
Yours truly,
Ketan N.Shah
September 1st, 2009 at 11:48 pm
Hearty Congrats sir,and my best wishes are with you.
September 4th, 2009 at 12:52 pm
Dear Mr. Nelekani
I recently came across a community of designers and developers trying to open up the American government. Its an initiative that I believe is well timed for India’s people-inclusive vision . Please find it here at http://sunlightlabs.com/
Thank you for your time
Srishti
September 6th, 2009 at 10:23 am
Dear Mr. Niakani:
Numbering scheme for UID
I believe a system that has the 6-digit pin code of the place of birth of the person as the first 6 digits of the UID will have many advatages: such as:
.Tracking bonafides of birth and hence citizenship
.Easy to remember first 6 digits
.Effective in tracking flow of benefits to poor geographically
.Etc
May need to rejig the pin code system.
Thanks
Agam Nag
agamnag@yahoo.com
September 9th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
Unique Nilekani!
His uids to the poor
will have profiles sure;
those breathe life on paper too.
Pan Bharat mission succeeds.
—- my tanka(Japanese poem)
With best wishes.
September 9th, 2009 at 1:50 pm
I really looking forward to successful completion of this project. Good luck
September 10th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
Congratulations on your new appointment. I am sure you will provide the much needed (E)lixir for indian E-government. Very much inpired by what you have done and what you have now chosen to do. Would really like to be apart of this huge buy worthy undertaking. Please initiate the UIDAI website soon so that aspiring professionals like myself can help.
Best wishes and high regards
Rahul
September 20th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
“The UIDAI will be setting up a website soon, which will chart out ways for people to volunteer and engage with the project.”
—-
Till then, how do interested volunteers like myself, get in touch?
Dying to know,
Hephail
September 25th, 2009 at 10:58 am
You can term me pessimistic but if you quantify the current goverment infrastructure and level of technological awareness, I think this project will cause a heartburn and source of constant embarassment for many. Here’s something for you to read when you have time-off writing books.
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/cis/theses/nguyentl-masters.pdf
Excuse my language, but I am not a huge fan of government undertakings specially in the technological arena.
October 3rd, 2009 at 9:15 pm
WISH U ALL THE BEST SIR…..
October 4th, 2009 at 1:03 am
I doubt this will have the effect and outcome that is being stated i.e. benefit the poor and create a more equal society among others.
I see a greater possibility of this being misused give the state of affairs in our country; pretty much a Orwellian Big Brother future waiting to happen if it fails.
I think it would be a much better idea implementing an “Accountability and Transparency” project for our great government before embarking on such projects.
Just my bit but good luck because you certainly are going to need it.
October 4th, 2009 at 1:08 am
Adding to my previous post - I think it would be even better if had some seriously strong Privacy Laws but of course Privacy and Personal Space are words that are unheard of in India; we just need to check out the queues at our government offices, public transport, movie theaters, roads etc
October 14th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Sir,
Congrats and All the best for such a difficult task..
I have a few doubts in this project sir..
1.What about the migrant laborer community which doesn’t have a permanent address but still they are citizens of India.For eg.,my servant maid who lives in a slum as a tenant doesnt have a ration card,no proof of address etc.so she cannot cast her vote in spite of being an Indian citizen..what procedure will be used to verify the genuineness of the laborer because many illegal immigrants from other countries can also hide behind these innocent migrants..
2.Many middle class Indians work in private sector and have transferable jobs..They may have to stay in rented homes..I have faced many problems for getting gas connections etc..because of lack of address proof…
3.Are volunteers allowed to work in this project..
October 15th, 2009 at 6:57 pm
Dear Mr. Nandan Nilekani,
While I congratulate you on taking over as Chairman of UADAI and have heard of the first pilot project being launched in Karnataka. I have a suggestion, which I am not sure if you have already considered. As the youth will be the future of the country, I suggest you start issuing ID’s to all School children first at Government schools and private/ Public schools. You can also then call the parents of all the students and issue them also an ID. This would have catered to a large population. You could do similarly at college level too.
October 18th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
*I feel the numbers should be used just to benefit people and not regulate or enforce tax.
*Numbers should not be linked with any other field in a persons record.(neither mobile no or postal area code)
*There should be amnesty for tax evaders and any duplicates in ration/DL/PAN/Senior citizen cards etc.
*600 million in five years is an underestimation. I think the database will reach that size in just one or two years as 65% people are literates and will approach banks or offices for cards waiting in queues for hours together.
*School teachers used for census in 2011 will mess up as they don’t have computer knowhow.
October 25th, 2009 at 12:27 am
Re: “In my new role, I can no longer comment on government policy. So this means the end of this blog.”
Nandan,
I can’t see why you should not comment on government policy now that you are even more responsible than before. I think your opinion, specially when it does not subscribe to the line government takes, has to be published so that your point of view is known (to folks who could serve India in future). Your allegiance, in all humility I submit, is to the mother land and people - not to the government.
Congrats on the appointment. I wish you the very best. I hope this is the beginning of engraving your name in Indian history.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
I’ll be watching the contract process closely to see how much of this project ends up with Infosys.
March 3rd, 2010 at 4:42 pm
Good Luck Nandan. We look forward to your success in the UIDAI project. Its going to be very tough and extremely challenging given you have to deal with a lot of politicians at all levels. I am sure it will be a great learning experience hopefully opening up opportunities for other entrepreneurs to enter this ‘governance’ domain and contribute to making e-governance a very valuable and useful tool for the progress of our country.
April 25th, 2010 at 12:23 am
Dear Mr. Nilekani,
I happened to just finish your book Imagining India. After going thro the 18 Chapters was impressed that you had covered most of the pressing topics in India starting from colonial hangovers, education, cast, politics, infrastructure etc.however one distinct missing subject from the list was a mention on the reforms needed in our internal security force and our armed forces, no mention of it at all…wonder if it was deliberate ommision. Btw Im not a member of the armed forces just have an elder brother who is out after serving the armed forces for 22 years and now looking for a job with a more than impressive CV and sad to see some kids in the IT earning more than him at entry level…Pls consider this as a feedback mail and sincerly wish you cld have dedicated atleast half a chapter to the plight of the Indian armed forces personnel and their reforms. Im not sure if you will ever get to read this comment but I just had to write this and have done it…