In Davos, Nandan Nilekani says ‘faced a lot of issues when Aadhaar work began, but all resolved now’ 

Nandan Nilekani.

Nandan Nilekani, Infosys chairman and the Aadhaar architect, said there were a lot of issues when work began on the Unique Identification Authority of India project (Aadhaar), but all those issues have been resolved now.

While speaking at a session on “Identity in a digital world” at the annual World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Nilekani also said that Aadhaar was never a data-gathering tool but uses minimal data to fulfil two key requirements – providing a basic and unique identity document and ensure welfare benefits reach the right person.

He said, “Indian ID system is called Aadhaar, which means foundation, and the idea came into being way back in 2006. The reasons were many, including about people going to cities for jobs, children being born without records and the basic need was inclusion of people who didn't have basic documents.”

He added, “Biometric was not that advanced at that time. The technology was built on an open source platform. The data is very minimal, and it is not a data gathering system. It requires basic details, but it is now base for the world's largest government welfare program.”

Related