National ID cards will be no swipe-and-smile matter

Providing unique ID cards to all Indians, the job that former Infosys co-chairman Nandan Nilekani has taken up, will not be easy.

Sources in the security establishment said the project by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) could spark grave controversies, given the large number of illegal immigrants in the country, lack of government machinery, especially in areas affected by insurgency, and the mass movement of people, including criminals, across states. "For the project to succeed, the flow of illegal migrants from Bangladesh and Nepal should end," a senior intelligence officer said.

According to an estimate by the Intelligence Bureau, there are up to two crore illegal Bangladeshis in India and a good number of them already have ration and voter identity cards. "Can you deny them multipurpose ID cards when they already have ration cards?" an IPS officer, who was part of a previous, unsuccessful effort to send back illegal immigrants to Bangladesh, said. Dhaka officially does not recognise a large presence of illegal immigrants from Bangladesh in India, he said.

The sources said the inclusion of a large number of migrants to India could be prevented only by issuing work permits. But New Delhi looks at the issue from the prism of security, "which is absurd", a senior IAS officer said. In fact, in prime minister Manmohan Singh's first term in office, national security adviser JN Dixit had suggested a regulated border entry and work permits for Bangladeshis. But the proposal was lost after his death.

A senior official in the security establishment said, "India has no option but to introduce a liberal, but monitored, work permit system for citizens of Bangladesh, Nepal, and other neighbouring countries, except Pakistan. The flow is bound to increase as our economy grows."

The Nilekani project will hit major political roadblocks as it moves to the northeastern states and other places where Bangladeshi illegal immigrants are a major issue. "The project may not succeed as a standalone work," an intelligence officer said. He pointed out the huge challenges in executing the project in Jammu & Kashmir, the Northeast, and in central India, where insurgents, including Maoists, have driven the government away from villages. "Unless you have an effective grassroots mechanism, how can you issue cards credibly?" he said.

Inefficient government machinery also means the cards could be misused, sources in the intelligence set-up said. They pointed out that criminals could acquire multiple ID cards and misuse them. "The only way to avoid that is to have corruption-free government at the grassroots," one source said.

There are also worries about privacy, as the central database would contain critical personal details. There have been innumerable cases of national databases being compromised across the world. "We will have to first put in place tough privacy laws," another intelligence officer said.