The Aadhaar Card and the Debates It Has Inspired

Identity and Efficiency

Critics of the Aadhaar identification system maintain that it limits the exercise of fundamental rights while also threatening privacy. The fear is that, by making

Why Is Aadhaar Important for India's Future?

Nandan Nilekani, the first chairperson of the body that oversees the implementation of the Aadhaar system, the Unique Identification Authority of India, acknowledges that there have been some problems along the way. However, he insists robustly on the overall benefits that Aadhaar has brought to the country. Nilekani also maintains that already-existing legal penalties should be sufficient to deter such abuses as the wrongful disclosure of data. India’s Attorney General, Mukul Rohatgi, has also defended the Aadhaar biometric identification system in the strongest terms. According to Rohatgi, Aadhaar is quite simply indispensable to allow administrators to keep up with the ever-increasing pace of social and economic change in India today. So, for now, the debate remains unsolved. Processes of this magnitude cannot but awaken profound public discourse, and this in itself is one of the great advantages of progress and change. Recent News: following this post I gave an interview for Noobpreneur.com magazine in a piece about Microfinance and Aadhaar card. Check it out here.