idontspam - 2 January, 2010 | governance | Analysis | India | UID

UID Challenge

The UIDAI contemplates certain challenging situations that it might face in the implementation of the project to the public. This is the first in that series. The UIDAI is going to face many challenging situations and we would like to invite solutions from the public for these challenges.

The present challenge is related to the "Introducer System" which has been detailed out in the Demographic Data Standards and verification procedure Committee report in the Committees tab of the website. The problem is stated below. Probable reactions/solutions are solicited from the public to webadminuidai@nic.in.

UID Introducer Problem

Unique ID Authority of India has been mandated to give Unique IDs to the residents of this country. The way a person gets his/her ID will broadly work as follows:

He/she goes to a registration booth being operated by some agency to get registered. If he/she has some documentary proof of his/her identity, he/she produces that before the registrar. He/she may also produce another to prove his address. If both these documents are found satisfactory, the registrar will collect the details and biometrics of the person (photo, fingerprints and possibly iris also).

For those who do not posses any documentary proof of their identity or address, there is another mechanism which has been put in place. This is called the “Introducer based Verification System”. This is similar to opening of a bank account. As per procedure prevalent in banks, whenever you open a bank account in a branch, you need to be introduced by a person who already has an account in that branch. Similarly, if someone who does not have any documents to prove his identity or address, he will get a UID if he is introduced by an ‘authorized’ introducer. For further details on the system of introduction one can see the report of the Demographic Data Standards and Verification Procedures Committee in the Committees Section of www.uidai.gov.in

Now the problem is as follows. Suppose we have an authorized introducer X who is ready to introduce Y. Y goes to a particular Registrar and says that he would like to be registered for a UID. He claims that X, who is authorized to introduce (and also has UID) is ready to introduce him. If X is also physically present at the place of enrolment, X can give his biometric and the introduction process can become foolproof incorporating the non-repudiation aspect also. However, this will require physical presence of X at the registration site which may be difficult and inconvenient, especially when the introduction is purely voluntary.

In this situation, can we evolve any communication protocol preferably using mobile (one can assume that both registrar and the introducer will have the mobile phone) or any other system so that introducer’s physical presence can be dispensed without compromising the authenticity of introduction? We should also not require immediate response from the introducer as the registration process is going on. He can respond in the evening if he feels that somebody has misused the facility. This is possible because the UIDs are not going to be issued in real time and will take overnight.

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