6 -  Thu, 30 Jul 2009

Please explain why a Unique number (UID) is necessary ?.  What are the benefits of a billion people having a Unique number (UID) ?. 
Ram,

The fact is that a large proportion of Indians have no "recognized" id of any sort, and this denies them various kinds of entitlement, including those available for BPL families and many others. Another example is that they are denied any credit facilties from organized banking channels, which cost much less than other channels (informal moneylenders and MFIs), which they are forced to use.

My take is that the UID initiative must solve this problem, above all.

The press releases from NN are not encouraging in this respect, since he has now focussed on UIN rather than UID.

There are very many other good reasons for a UID scheme. While on the one hand hundreds of millions suffer the consequences of lack of id, we also have huge scams in terms of fake cards and ghost cards of various types, starting with BPL cards and PAN cards. I read a recent report that the number of BPL cards issued exceeds the total number of families. Obviously, this level of faking can seriously derail many initiatives, including budgeted subsidies for the poor. So, one would hope that the UId would address this problem as well.

N.V.Krishna, IITM