How To Fix Aadhaar

UIDAI has made several mistakes it needs to fix. Here are the main problems:
1. The single biggest issue – lack of robustness. Private individuals issuing cards means a lot of sub-standard or Fake IDs in the system. The card making process isn’t comforting either. I had to go three times for my card as the system crashed each time. The person making the card sat in a ramshackle room with a tin roof. Hardly the place where India’s most robust IDs are issued right?
No matter what the total number of cards is, issuing Aadhaar is serious business. Each card is important. Would we ever issue passports like this? It may cost more but Aadhaar centres have to be as good in terms of infrastructure and checks as passport centres.
2. Use better equipment. Again, for growth, cheap cameras and fingerprint scanners have been used. For several senior citizens, they do not take fingerprint data well. The photographs on Aadhaar make everyone look like a ghost. A hard plastic card with a clear picture and a microchip is what is needed, not a scrap of paper. Is it too much to expect quality for a three-inch card, which will be used for life?
3. The UIDAI website is a mess. The site is slow, the user interface design is from the 1980s. It doesn’t inspire confidence about a robust ID issuing authority. Outsource it please.
4. Don’t threaten people to link everything with Aadhaar. Linkages will come over time. If the card is good, people will use it for all identification purposes anyway. Why shove these linkages down people’s throats? It only gives the card a bad name.
5. Privacy and data breach concerns are real. While Indians do not have a huge sensitivity to privacy issues yet, they will crop up eventually. Making Aadhaar mandatory for any transaction, trip, stay or consumption is pushing things too far. As said before, if the card is good and robust, people will use it anyway. Why push it?
Similarly, recent data breaches cause concern. If the data given to UIDAI is not safe, confidence in the cards will plummet. It is not that hard to keep data safe. Just acknowledge the problem and work on it.
Growth is intoxicating, and UIDAI is high on what it has achieved. While they deserve a pat on the back, it is also time for them to refine Aadhaar and fix the above problems. The growth phase of Aadhaar is over. It is now time for UIDAI to move its target from growth to something more important to ensure the scheme becomes a long-term success: quality.
(Author: Shri Chetan Bhagat in Times of India, 20 January 2018) more