The unique identity number, branded as Aadhaar, is no longeran abstract number and the scheme is no longer a matter of abstract debates.Aadhaar will now ensure various government services are delivered to theintended beneficiaries and thus plug loopholes in welfare schemes.
After two years of ground work, the government hasintroduced ‘identity based’ delivery of services “ integrating Aadhaar with thesocial security schemes “ to check pilferage, eliminate the role of middlemenand fix accountability in the delivery process. Using Aadhaar, for example, thegovernment will now be able to transfer cash directly into the beneficiary'saccount instead of delivering the benefits like PDS goodies.
Aadhaar integration will increase transparency and makemonitoring easy. Currently, a substantial portion of social benefits andsubsidies “ which accounts for Rs 4 lakh crore a year “ goes in the pockets ofcorrupt officials and middlemen.
Launching the Aadhaar-enabled service delivery at Dudu inRajasthan on October 21, prime minister Manmohan Singh said, “Very often, wereceive complaints that items such as gas connections, diesel and fertilizers,which get a lot of subsidy from the government, do not reach the needy and thepoor. With Aadhaar, we will be able to ensure transfer of benefits by cash toindividuals. With the Aadhaar number, we can ensure that the money goes to thecorrect person and the role of middleman is ended with direct transfer ofbenefits to the needy, complaints about delay and leakage will also come down.”
In other words, "The government wants to usetechnology, especially the information technology, in governance, to reduceforgery and increase transparency and accountability."
On this occasion, Congress chief Sonia Gandhi handed overthe 21st crore Aadhaar number document to a Dudu resident named Bali Bai,terming Aadhaar people's "right to identity".
Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identity Authorityof India (UIDAI) which is preparing and issuing the Aadhaar numbers, explainedhow this initiative would fight corruption in the delivery system. He toldCNN-IBN in a recent interview, "I certainly don't believe that passing alaw, putting more punitive penalties on bureaucrats and creating moreinspectors is going to solve the corruption problem. That is a wrongprescription. What you really need is get in to the trenches and fix thedelivery system. How to make sure that the right people get the right things atthe right time with an element of choice? That is re-engineering the way you dothings. That is far more complex. And that is what we are doing at UIDAI."
In a press conference on the eve of UIDAI’s secondanniversary, he told reporters that the government was rolling out a pilotproject on Aadhaar enabled services delivery in 51 districts across thecountry. Aadhaar will be used while delivering pensions, scholarships, wagesunder the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MNREGS)and ration under the public distribution system (PDS). The pilots would be overby the end of this year, he added.
in association with Governance Now
