ENGLISH COFFETABLE BOOK-5

Technology, AAdhAArAnd The poTenTiAl for AfricANandan Nilekani

chairman of the Unique identification Authority of india

in the past few years, the way peoplespeak of Africa’s potential haschanged. in the 10 years leading upto 2010, the six fastest-growing

economies in the world have beenAfrican. growth in these countries hasaccompanied the rise of more liberalmarkets and the emergence of industriesbeyond the dominant natural resourceand commodity sectors.

The change that is occurring in Africa isreminiscent of what india experiencedthrough the 1980s and 1990s as we became recognised as an economic force.Many of the challenges African nationsnow face remind me of the ones thatindia has experienced in its efforts toovercome high incidence of poverty, thegrowing pains of urbanisation, thechallenge of job creation and the creationof effective welfare programmes.

The Goals of GrowthAs india has went years of development,a consensus took hold within the countrythat we needed to look beyond growth,and consider the impact of development

on the reduction of poverty, and on theachievement of social goals such ashealth and education, and on the buildingof infrastructure and institutions. And, asAfrica experiences rapid growth, it facessimilar concerns.

developing countries in Africa and Asiaface unique challenges. They see growthrates that are far more rapid compared towhat the nations of the West experiencedduring the 19th and 20th centuries,thanks to the leapfrogging ofinfrastructure and technology. india, forexample, has transitioned directly fromno-telephone penetration to the use ofmobile phones; the software industry inindia emerged early in the 1980s even asindia began to record impressive gdpgrowth rates; the rapid urbanisation andan extremely young population arebringing millions of rural poor into thecities at a breathtaking pace.

These changes are taking place at unprecedented speed, and while this hasenabled growth rates of over 6 percent inmuch of the developing world, it has also

056 Technology, AAdhAAr And The poTenTiAl for AfricA

The change that is occurring in Africa isreminiscent of what india experienced throughthe 1980s and 1990s as it became recognised as an economic force. Many of the challengesAfrican nations now face remind me of the onesthat india has experienced — in its efforts toovercome high incidence of poverty, growingpains of urbanisation, job creation and the design and implementation of effective welfare programmes

(Top) Stockbrokers in Mumbai, India.

(Right) Delhi Metro, the capital’s pride.

What is Aadhaar:A tool for social empowerment and inclusion, Aadhaar is a 12-digit numberbeing issued to all residents by theUnique identification Authority of india(UidAi). This number is stored in a cen-tral database and linked to some basicdemographics and biometric informa-tion — photo, 10 fingerprints and irisof each individual.

Why Aadhaar:for applicants, Aadhaar, over time, willbe recognised and accepted across thecountry and become the basic, univer-sal identity of residents for all publicand private services. once enrolled,

service providers will no longer face theproblem of performing repeated ‘knowyour customer’ checks.

Genesis of Aadhaar:inability to prove one’s ‘identity’ is oneof the biggest barriers preventing thepoor from accessing benefits and subsi-dies given by the government or privateagencies. Aadhaar promises an identityto every resident — children, differently-abled people, tribal people, unorganisedworkers, the poor and the marginalisedcan also secure a unique identity.

Who can get Aadhaar:every individual, from infants to senior

citizens, who is a resident in india andsatisfies the verification process laiddown by the Authority can get an Aadhaar.

How to Get Aadhaar:The resident needs to go to the nearestenrolment camp and register foran Aadhaar, along with certain specifieddocuments. Upon registering, residentswill go through a biometric scanning of10 fingerprints and iris. They will thenbe photographed. The number ‘Aadhaar’will be issued within 20-30 days.

How to track Aadhaar application:every resident seeking enrolment is

given a printed acknowledgment formwith an enrolment number that enablesher/him to make queries through anyof the communication channels —phone, fax, letter or e-mail.

What use can Aadhaar be put to:Aadhaar means foundation. it can beused in any system that needs to estab-lish the identity of a person seeking aservice. it will particularly help the delivery of programmes on food andnutrition, employment, education, inclu-sion and social security, health care,and other services such as propertytransactions, election card, tax card anddriving licence.

The ABc of AAdhAAr

(Top) Indian Space Research Organisation’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle blasts off fromSriharikota in Andhra Pradesh.

(Left) A view of Bengaluru, India’s technology hub, by night.

060 Technology, AAdhAAr And The poTenTiAl for AfricA

come with challenges for governments inensuring that their citizens, particularlythe poor, are equipped with the skills andsupport systems to participate in growth,and are not left out. The rapid pace ofgrowth means that countries in Asia, andnow in Africa, must implementinnovative solutions to meet the demandsof its fast-expanding middle classes andits millions of upwardly mobile,aspirational workers.

Bringing Technology to DevelopmentThe solutions that india has adopted tomeet the challenges of its growthtrajectory often have at their coretechnology as a powerful and enablingtool. Telecom connectivity has broughtmobile phone access to millions ofordinary indians, connecting people acrossrural india to national and global markets.increasingly, this mobile phoneinfrastructure is also being leveraged ingovernment programmes to send alertsand information to welfare beneficiaries onthe delivery of subsidised food or thedeposit of wages and cash benefits intotheir bank accounts. The use of iT has alsomade itself felt in the deployment of smartcards in welfare programmes such as therashtriya Swasthya Bima yojana or thenational health insurance Scheme thatprovides basic medical coverage to thepoor. This has pointed the way to the morewidespread use of technology for bettergovernance, and one such effort that hasemerged is the unique identificationnumber project — the Aadhaar initiative.

Aadhaar translates as ‘foundation’ inseveral indian languages, and theAadhaar number is meant to serve as afoundation for enabling better, moreinclusive governance and service delivery

across the country. The Aadhaarinitiative, which will enrol approximately600 million people by 2014, issues aunique identification number to everyindian resident, which is linked to theperson’s unique demographic andbiometric information. The demographicinformation collected while enrollingresidents for the number is basicidentifying information — name, age,gender, present/permanent address; the biometric information collected is the person’s photograph, fingerprints and iris images.

By collecting such information, theproject is able to ensure that there are noduplicates of the number. every time anew identification number is issued, thebiometric information is checked againstthe database of existing Aadhaarnumbers. The number will enable theunique identification of individuals andconfirmation of their identity online andin real time. An individual can providehis/her number and a piece ofdemographic or biometric identifyinginformation to any agency anywhere inthe country and the Aadhaar databasewill confirm in a few seconds whetherhe/she is indeed that person.

Such identifying infrastructure is avaluable one in a country which isworking to tackle poverty and improveits social indicators. it allowsgovernments and service providers toclearly identify individuals beforedelivering benefits and services, thuslimiting the leakages and losses thatoften hinder large-scale welfareprogrammes. it also provides thepotential to directly transfer benefits tothe poor in the form of cash and

The solutions that india has adopted to meet thechallenges of its growth trajectory often have attheir core technology as a powerful and enablingtool. Telecom connectivity has brought mobilephone access to millions of ordinary indians,connecting people across rural india to nationaland global markets

(Top) Indian farmers take part in an e-governance initiative at a panchayat, or village council, console.

(Right) A view of the ultra-modern Terminal-3 of the Indira Gandhi International Airport, New Delhi.

(Top) A bird’s eye-view of Mumbai’s skyline.

(Right) The Imperial, a residential apartment block inMumbai, is one of the tallest buildings in the country.

065 Technology, AAdhAAr And The poTenTiAl for AfricA

vouchers by linking the Aadhaar number to individual bank accounts.The mobility of the number means thatmigration and urbanisation do not needto come with exclusion for the poor;services that individuals are eligible for,such as a bank account, a mobile phoneconnection and welfare benefits, can beaccessed anywhere in the country, sinceidentity can now be establishedanywhere. governments can alsoidentify problems of exclusion moreeasily, such as when a child is out ofschool, or has failed to receivevaccinations. The ability to confirmidentity online also means thatgovernments can expand the reach ofcritical services such as banking morerapidly across the country, throughsolutions such as mobile banking.

for Africa, the coming years may be theright time to implement technology-enabled solutions such as the uniqueidentification number. governmentsacross Africa have the finances for suchprojects — they have seen increasedrevenues over the last decade, thanks tothe improvement in commodity pricesand economic growth. African nations arealready putting in place infrastructurenecessary for such technology-aidedprojects — they have made substantialinroads in laying the fibre-opticinfrastructure necessary for onlineconnectivity, particularly in South andeast Africa. policies in Kenya, rwandaand nigeria have encouraged the rise ofiT and telecom industries and the spreadof mobile phones. South Africa, nigeriaand Kenya together produce millions ofsoftware engineers, ensuring localexpertise for iT-intensive projects;countries such as rwanda are alreadyimplementing iT solutions in education

and health care and local governments innigeria are experimenting with biometric-based identification.

Both the technological capability and the familiarity with the infrastructurerequired to build an effectiveidentification system are thus falling inplace. in addition, the expansion ofbanking infrastructure to the African poor— with the growth of mobile banking inKenya, and the rise of no-frills (Mzansi)accounts in South Africa — make id-based applications such as Micro-financeand direct welfare transfers to the poorincreasingly possible.

Young Nations Coming of Agein the next few years, Africa is set tobecome the continent with the world’sfastest growth rate and the fastest rate ofurbanisation. it is also a region that will,like india, soon experience a significantdemographic dividend, as its populationmoves from high to low fertility rates. Asthe region’s one billion people gain ayounger, more ambitious tilt, Africangovernments will have to respond withbetter, more effective programmes thatmeet the growing demands for jobs, betterservices and effective infrastructure.

Technology will be a powerful tool forgovernments to respond rapidly andquickly to these demands. it will enablethem to track progress in developmentefforts, inform citizens and gainfeedback on their efforts, even as theybuild the roads and institutions that arenecessary to support long-term growth.Africa is now on track for rapiddevelopment. Technology-basedsolutions would be a means to ensurethat such growth progresses on a paththat is sustainable, and inclusive.

(Top) With nearly 800 million users, India has the second-largest mobile phone network in the world. The country adds about 18 million new connections every month.

(Left) The International Technology Park in India’s Silicon Valley, Bengaluru, houses nearly 50 companies.

for Africa, the coming years may be the right timeto implement technology-enabled solutions such as the unique identification number project