Dear Resident :: Where are you?

I am a major supporter of the Aadhar project(s) in India. This, despite harboring some misgivings on where it is leading us. Instead of airing vague suspicions and grand conspiracy theories let me see if I can initiate open discussion on some specific points. The relevance of these points is likely to change quickly (e.g., if UIDAI or someone else comes up with an answer or a solution). 

As my objective is to cover ground not adequately covered elsewhere, readers will require some basic understanding of the UIDAI activities and the Aadhar project.

Here are some examples of what I come across - ranging from elementary to esoteric:

>> It will make our life so much easier! Why don't they make it mandatory? They should also collect income details and bank account particulars!

>> I am sure the people of UIDAI have debated the required data fields thoroughly before deciding on the KYR data. So why should we (the state) collect additional data (KYR+)? If they, in their wisdom, thought KYR is sufficient, we should not question them.

>> I don't think we should depend on Aadhar UID. We should have our own "State UID" which will be designed to meet state needs - an intelligent alpha-numeric id that will be easy to remember and use by the citizens.

>> It should be easy enough. We simply add a UID field in our database and import all UID data from the central government. I don't see any problem.

What makes life difficult is that those who come up with such interesting points are mostly unwilling or unable to spend the time necessary to understand the answers. However, it is not my intention to use this as a medium to give those answers (at least not in this post). 

Rather, I would like to raise one of my (several) own questions. The idea is not to question and oppose... rather, to simply provoke thought and seek solutions (not just answers, thank you very much) from the wise.

My question for today is: "Dear Resident :: Where are you?". Let me explain. 

Let me pretend to be a state government attempting to deliver some services to a resident. This resident has already obtained an Aadhar number. Let us say that the state has already notified Aadhar number as a valid basis for proof of identity and address. Further, the state has integrated a variety of state eGovernance applications to the CIDR for Aadhar-based authentication.

Now, the first - happy scenario: Resident comes to a service counter, gives his Aadhar number and address; this is verified against the CIDR, found to be true; service is delivered without any hassles, everyone goes home happy.

Now the second - doubtful scenario: Government needs to reach out to the resident.

e.g., #1: to inform about change of status of a beneficiary program ("You are now eligible for a higher pension. Please visit your local DSWO office to complete the formalities"); 

e.g., #2: to seek additional information from the resident as a part of a service delivery; ("We have found that some of the information you have provided may be outdated. Please visit our offices to provide recent information"). 

In an enlightened G2C era, many such interactions are possible. In each case, the state government cannot reach out to the resident because of either of these:

• the state government selected not to duplicate the contents of the CIDR; so the resident's address is with CIDR, not with the state government. 
• the state government does maintain the resident's address separately, but the resident had, for any number of reasons, enrolled in a different state - so the authentic data never reached the state government.
• the state government did collect the address from the resident, but it is outdated; the resident did update the CIDR with a new address; but didn't separately notify the state government. So the letters from the state government to the resident aren't being delivered.

Let me think of a few potential answers/solutions:

>> "UIDAI policy does not allow sharing of such data. CIDR can only answer yes/no to an authentication query."

True. So the state government needs to find a solution by itself; not depend on UIDAI for this then?

>> "UIDAI does allow registrars to retain their registration data; so they can maintain their own resident database."

True. But what happens to data that is updated (e.g., address change)? Can we safely assume that the preferred process of update would be directly to the CIDR, leaving the state resident databases in the lurch?

>> "Registrar's are free to share their information with each other. So data about residents registered in other states / other registrars can be obtained by each state"

True. But is it really feasible for each registrar to enter into agreements with every other registrar in the country? At last check there are 73 registrars/partners. 

Then again, what about data that is updated directly to CIDR?

One last thing before signing off for now: Today's question applies to every registrar - not just state governments. 

Note:

I am involved in some way, in the Aadhar Project implementation in the State of Haryana. This is not an attempt to subvert / bypass normal communication channels between the state & UIDAI. I believe that some questions deserve educated discussion beyond closed doors. Hence this.