Should U ID or I?

The flagship UID project, which seeks to obtain biometric information for all Indian citizens, has the potential to revolutionise the way PDS activities and other social spending is carried out, reduce the huge leakages and bring about several other benefits associated with a secure centralised database—low-cost money transfers through mobile banking is one such and, given this will take place through banking correspondents in each village, citizens won’t have to waste time (often several days) going to distant locations to collect various forms of subsidies. Given the government spends R2,50,000 crore on subsidies each year (including that by oil PSUs) and the Food Security Bill could add another R2,00,000 crore to it, going by the CACP chairman’s estimates, the need to get UIDAI functional is critical. If a third of the expenditure doesn’t reach the targeted beneficiaries, that is R1,50,000 crore, an amount not much higher than the median estimate by the CAG of the loss in the 2G scam!

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