India has embarked on an ambitious project to give biometric identitycards to its 1.2 billion citizens. If implemented, theproject could help millions of poor people gain easier access to publicservices.  

Forty-two-year-old Renu Bose came to NewDelhi from her village in West Bengal state to work as a house maid,two years ago. She wants to put some of her meager savings in a bankto take back to the village when she returns, but she has been unableto open an account.

Bose says the bank wants her to produce someproof of identity, but she has none to offer. She cannot authenticateher address, because she lives in an illegal slum.

Bose's plightis familiar to millions of poor people, especially urban migrants whopour into the country's big cities every year, in search of work. India recognizes many proofs of identity such as driving licenses,passports, birth certificates and ration cards - but many poor peoplehave none of these. Even if they do have a proof of identity, none arerecognized across the country.

The head of Oxfam India, NishaAgarwal, says a lack of identity is a major problem, especially forurban migrants. As a result, they are excluded from dozens ofgovernment programs which offer cheaper food, jobs or other benefits topoor people.

"They remain treated as temporary migrants and,without that piece of paper, some form of identification, they are notable to access many of these government schemes that exist now, thathave large funds behind them and could actually make a huge differencein poor people's lives," said Agarwal.

The government hasembarked on a massive project to address their problems. In the nextfour years, it plans to provide all its citizens with a nationalidentity number. The unique number will be put on an identity cardwhich will have biometric authentication, such as fingerprints andphotographs. The data will be stored online, creating the biggest suchnational database in the world.

Nandan Nilekani, a cofounder of Infosys Technologies Ltd. (File)One of the country's best knowinformation technology tycoons, has taken charge of the UniqueIdentification Authority of India, which will implement the project.Nandan Nilekani, a cofounder of one of India's biggest technologycompanies, Infosys, calls it an "unprecedented project."  

"Nowherein the world has a database of a billion people been created withbiometrics, and no duplicates. So we are going to be fighting a hugenumber of technology challenges. Then there is the whole scale issue. How do you scale this whole thing up to a billion people," saidNilekani.

The project's main aim is to help improve the deliveryof inefficient public services and cut corruption, which the governmentadmits results in siphoning off benefits intended for theunderprivileged. For example, fake identity cards are sometimes usedto take away subsidized food grains meant for the poor and which arethen sold for profit.

The first identity cards are expected to be issued in about 18 months.

Oxfam'sNisha Agarwal says the project could be a powerful way of introducingtransparency, reducing bureaucracy and reaching the poor effectively.But she cautions that it must be implemented in a manner in whichnobody is left out.

"It is very important it is done in aninclusive manner. Otherwise it will have the opposite effect ofexcluding large chunks of poor people and they could become even worseoff than they are today," said Agarwal.

Most poor people, likehousemaid Renu Bose, are unaware that such a project is beingimplemented. But when told about it, she sounds happy.

She says,whenever she has tried to get some proof of identity in Delhi, she hasbeen told she is too old and nothing can be done. She hopes a uniqueidentity number may change that.