The question is whether such a massive exercise is warranted for these narrow purposes. Government can surely build upon the various identity cards that are already in place to secure these goals. After all there is the PAN card; it identifies the tax payer; there is the BPL card; it provides access to subsidies and other entitlements, etc; there is the ration card — it offers food on concessional terms, etc. I do of course appreciate that these cards cover only a fragment of the population; that they essentially correlate economic condition to economic entitlement and that they do not encapsulate the non-economic facets of an individual’s identity. But these are inadequacies that can be overcome through the incremental application of appropriate technology. They do not require the start of a new project on the scale envisaged.

It is therefore to the broader remit that I turn for justification. Amartya Sen explained that identity is not a unidimensional and rigid attribute. People have multiple identities and it is a matter of personal choice and circumstance that determines their dominant identity at any particular point in time or place. A woman executive in office may cloak herself with the identity of a professional. But at home she may decide to doff that in favour of something that signals motherhood and/or housewife. The point is that identity is a fluid concept and whilst there are defining singular attributes like nationality, religion, caste, language or profession, the lens through which people see themselves and others reflect kaleidoscopic overlaps of these attributes. Identity is a shifting composite and individual behaviour reflects this composite.

... contd.