Unique Identification will bring social inclusion in India, says Nandan Nilekani

NEW DELHI - The Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Nandan Nilekani, has said that the authority will empower the people of India to take full benefits from welfare schemes, in due course becoming a tool of development and social inclusion.

Addressing the annual Rajinder Mathur Memorial Lecture here on Thursday, Nilekani said: “The UID will put an end to the dysfunctional identity structure in India by providing a social welfare net for all.

“It is important to realise that this is a platform that is very important to address inclusion, mobility, efficiency of expenditure, ranging of public services and provide for innovation. That’s broadly what it is, I do not want to get into the technical part of it but it is important to realize that it is important for social change and social inclusion,” he added.

Pointing out that penetration of banks was quite low in rural areas, he said the UID can facilitate extending banking to every village.

“The UID would also be beneficial for people who migrate from one part of the country to the other,” he added.

Answering queries about possibility of data being misused, he said that the only service provided by the UIDAI was authentication.

“UID is one part of privacy issue. We need a larger privacy and data protection law,” he said.

Nilekani said he wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue in May and the government has come out with an approach paper to elicit people’s views.

He said the authority’s target was to provide the UID to 600 million Indian residents in the next four years. (ANI)