Numbers game

The government of Delhi,in coordination with the Unique Identification Authority of India,is planning to give out the first UID numbers in the city to the estimated two lakh homeless residents of the capital. The handing out of UID numbers will happen in close coordination with the Delhi governments Mission Convergence,or the Samajik Suvidha Sangam. Mission Convergence was,incidentally,set up with the aim of bringing all welfare schemes and entitlements for the poor into a single window. Read together,these facts highlight better than anything else the real importance of giving out unique identity numbers.

For one,it is the most needy who will benefit most: homeless people,for example,would have few means,if any,to prove their identity conclusively. That often prevents them from even accessing government welfare schemes that they may actually be eligible for. Related to this are the very real gains for the government itself including state governments in being able to target welfare and entitlement schemes towards those who really need them. The UID infrastructure will certainly help cut down leakages which are a drain on the exchequer.

Its also for these very reasons that the UIDAI has found considerable political support in a system that usually frowns upon such radical change. Its hard for any reasonable politician to deny the benefits that the UID will bring to the most deprived,and not just in terms of accessing entitlements but also for other basic things like opening a bank account or getting a mobile phone connection. There will,of course,be critics and vested interests who will oppose the successful roll-out of the UID. For once though,the compulsions of responsive politics and the political mantra of inclusive growth will likely trump the opposition to a programme whose time has come.