Aadhaar enables an ‘epidemic’ of IDs in India

The Aadhaar ecosystem continues to grow, but it’s not all good news. The proliferation of IDs like the “One Nation, One Student ID” is opening up challenges and vulnerabilities, according to critics.

An analysis by the Economist begins brightly, calling the initial promise of the biometrics-based national identity system a “glorious one.” It observes how the 12-digit unique ID has helped cut corruption and fraud in the benefits system and sped up applications for bank accounts or switching mobile operators. But then there is a change to criticism.

This is because, apparently, India’s government has forgotten the system was meant to reduce duplication, according to The Economist.

The British publication highlights the rolling out of separate digital IDs for “yet another” set of people. This includes doctors, nurses, patients, organ donors, disabled people; teachers, pupils, foreign and domestic students. There are unique IDs for athletes, judges, farmers, gig workers, and so on. “That is in addition to the existing IDs, which include passports, voter cards, driving licenses and an array of tax identifiers,” the article says.

While testament to the success of Aadhaar, the column judges that IDs have become epidemic in India and that much of the new crop of IDs is simply branding, with government departments believing they must have their own ID system.

But this leads to government wastage, duplicative demands for data, and extra bureaucracy, all of which Aadhaar was intended to alleviate. “In the guise of cutting bureaucracy, the Indian state is instead entrenching it,” the piece ends, pithily.

Half of Indians have ABHA ID

One in every two Indians now has an ABHA ID or Ayushman Bharat Health Account, which is a “flagship scheme” under prime minister Narendra Modi. The Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission (ABDM) aims to create a national digital health ecosystem with digitization of health records, facilities and professionals across India.

“As of today, one in two Indians has created their Ayushman Bharat Health Account,” said Himanshu Burad, Officer on Special Duty to Joint Secretary and Mission Director (ABDM), National Health Authority, told News18. “Gradually, they can start linking their health records with ABHA to create their health history.”

The ABHA card contains a unique 14-digit identification number called ABHA ID. This links with the person’s entire medical history, consultation details, and prescriptions, which eliminates the need to carry health records while visiting hospitals.

According to Indian government data, more than 90 million tokens have been issued under the “scan and share” feature which allows patients to scan the QR code located at the OPD registration counter and share their ABHA profile for instant registration. Burad said the feature is available in over 19,000 hospitals across 640 districts.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has partnered with Sarvam AI, a Bengaluru-based, indigenous, full-stack Generative AI company to “enhance user experience” for Aadhaar services.

Sarvam will deploy voice-based interactions for resident-centric use cases, and this will help obtain near real-time feedback from Aadhaar number holders for their enrollment and update processes, including information on overcharging of residents (if any). Sarvam is making use of AI to spot anything suspicious during authentication requests.

Voice interaction and fraud detection will be available in 10 languages including Hindi, English, Telugu, Tamil, Marathi, Gujarati, Kannada, Odia, Punjabi and Malayalam. Language options are expected to expand in the coming months.

Farmer and student IDs proliferate

The registration process for AgriStack Farmer Identification Numbers (Farmer ID) has reached a milestone with 50,000 farmers successfully completing their registration under the Digital Public Infrastructure for Agriculture in Daund taluka, a subdivision of Pune district in Maharashtra, India.

India’s voluntary student ID, APAAR, also provides a unique 12-digit identifier. But critics of the program say the student information collected is vulnerable due to a lack of legal safeguards or data protection measures, and errors during enrollment can lead to problems for children and parents, The Hindu reports. Further, Aadhaar is voluntary and a prerequisite for APAAR applications, but demands by some states that schools furnish APAAR records risk making it practically mandatory to avoid educational exclusion.

Nigeria has faced similar criticism for ID sprawl and duplicative credentials.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  AgriStack  |  APAAR  |  Ayushman Bharat Health Account (ABHA) ID  |  digital ID  |  farmer ID  |  identity management  |  India  |  student ID  |  UIDAI