Measured in terms of its potential benefit and transformational impact, the Unique Identity Card scheme can turn out to be historic. However, the potential will reach its fullness only if the scheme is integrated into the larger matrix of e-governance and g-governance (g stands for good). And this is where the UPA government needs to view the UIDAI not as a stand-alone body but as an important component of a larger mission to achieve improved governance and better socio-economic development using the revolutionary tools that IT provides.

A major drawback in e-governance initiatives in India is that they are not explicitly linked to, and measured by, the goals of g-governance. Which is why, many government departments routinely reduce e-governance to simply procuring more IT hardware and software. Moreover, the departmental mentality is so deeply entrenched in government that they rarely work in unison to achieve common and inter-related objectives. Thus, their e-governance initiatives suffer due to duplication, non-standardisation, non-scalability and poor training, all resulting in wastage of resources and poor outcomes. The UIDAI can catalyse a change in this pattern. For this, it needs to be properly conceived with an enlarged mandate. If the government gives a purely technical mandate to the UIDAI, it will not be difficult for Nilekani and his team to issue a basic ID card to all citizens, just as the Election Commission has done so in respect of the voter

ID card.

However, from the point of view of both the citizen and the government, the full benefits of the unique ID card begin to flow only when the multiple purposes for which it can be used can be seamlessly integrated into it. This requires considerable re-engineering of the functioning of various entities of government, right from the Centre to the panchayat. For example, citizens will judge the success of the unique ID scheme on the basis of whether it reduces corruption, harassment and delays in their interface with government. Else, they will view it as a needless encumbrance, meant more to advance the none-too-transparent goals of babudom than to meet the felt needs of citizens themselves.

... contd.