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South African-European Union Dialogue Facility Series

Creating Digital Identity for All

an citizenship when enrolled in the programme. Ap- Aadhaar has had a significant influence on inclusion,
plicants, however, must provide proof of residence for particularly financial inclusion and communication,
at least 182 days in the previous year, since proving linked to opening bank accounts and mobile phone
nationality could cause significant delay and exclu- subscriptions. People can use Aadhaar as a means
sion. This approach can be described as an “identi- of identification to open bank accounts. It enables
ty-first” approach, since it merely establishes identity banks and customers to fulfil know-your-customer
that incorporates a minimal data collection process, (KYC) requirements. It has, together with schemes
which makes the rapid scaling up of enrolment pos- like the Prime Minister’s People’s Bank scheme, con-
sible. tributed to 80% of Indians holding bank accounts
by April 2018. Mobile phone subscriptions have in-
The development of the system focused on con- creased from 17 per 100 inhabitants to 85 per 100
trolling the software, digital spine and certification in 2016, approaching universal access, including a
and incentivised the ecosystem to provide IT prod- growing share of smartphones and internet-enabled
ucts and services through creating a government-ori- devices). Implementing the Aadhaar Enabled Pay-
ented market. The system offers extensive interop- ment System (AEPS) encourages digital payment
erability as a universal identity gateway for all an across banks with the rollout of the United Payment
individual’s interactions with a diversity of state and Interface, enabling
private bodies. The system is designed as a digital instant payments
platform with an hour-glass architecture. This de- and money trans-
sign incorporates a simple and easy-to-use solution, fers between
comprising the Aadhaar unique number for every banks using the
individual and authentication services linked to this Aadhaar number
number as the waist of the hour-glass, while enabling linked to the bank
innovation above and below, where the individual account. A digital
could be linked to additional services. Notably, UIDAI locker that serves
opted for an open scale-out architecture, rather than as an online repos-
a scale-up design that relies on specific technologies itory of documents
from one vendor. The open scale-out architecture re- that individuals can
lies on standard off-the-shelf hardware from multiple share has been
vendors to avoid lock-in and the use of open-source rolled out by the
technologies, unless there is no other option. government; this
digital locker links
Enrolment is undertaken by registrars and enrolment the Aadhaar num-
agencies, enabling individuals to apply at enrolment ber to the reposi-
centres where the required demographic and biomet- tory containing, for
ric information is provided. Registrars are UIDAI part- example, health
ners who usually outsource enrolment to UIDAI-cer- records, drivers’ li-
tified agencies with enrolment centres or mobile cences and college
camps. The information is then encrypted and trans- mark sheets. Multi-
ferred to the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) ple schemes incorporating the public distribution of
through a Secure File Transfer Protocol where con- goods and government services use the Aadhaar au-
nectivity is available or transferred on portable hard thentication. The programme cost is one of the low-
disks by post where the infrastructure poses chal- est in the world, with US$1.16 per enrolment made
lenges. The incoming data is checked for duplicates possible by several factors, including the absence
at the CIDR through a process of deduplication, after of a smart card. Notwithstanding the achievements
which a 12-digit Aadhaar number is randomly gen- mentioned above, concerns have been growing
erated. An authorised body can cross-check an in- about the forms of surveillance enabled by Aadhaar
dividual’s identity at any time or place using different as an example of a socio-technical arrangement and
methods, including service delivery agencies using how this might shape power relations between the
the Aadhaar authentication system for matching the citizen and the state.
number and the individual’s demographic attributes;
a one-time-password delivered to the individual’s
mobile number or email address; or using biometrics,
either iris or fingerprint.

20 SERVICE DELIVERY REVIEW | Volume 15 • No. 1 of 2022