We need more Nilekanis in government

The UPA government's decision to appoint Nandan Nilekani, co-chairman of Infosys Technologies, to head the Unique Identification Card mission is an inspired one. If it works — and we must make it work — it should pave the way for the induction of competent private-sector professionals of the calibre of KV Kamath at ICICI Bank, S Ramadorai at TCS, or Deepak Parekh of HDFC — to name just a few — for running gigantic public-sector initiatives.

It is sheer waste of national resources to let professional expertise remain confined to private enterprises when the country needs it more. These professionals bring not only the knowledge of a competitive operating environment, but leadership capabilities, integrity, and a commitment to performance that the government often lacks.

Take the case of Nilekani himself. Along with chief mentor NR Narayana Murthy and a few other IT titans, he has given Indian information technology a global footprint and credibility — something it lacked 10 years ago. A project of this magnitude, where close to 1.2 billion citizens have to be identified and given cards, cannot be executed by anyone less competent.

For three reasons. First, with the project cost running into Rs10,000 crore or more, it cannot be run by the traditional bureaucracy. Nilekani's professionalism is his greatest asset. Second, when you are going to load sensitive personal data onto a smart card, where everything from income to marital and caste status may be on it, you cannot entrust it to the care of a compromised government machinery.

In our system, personal information leaks everywhere. Income-tax files are often available to gangsters, credit card information is available to all telecallers, bankers use goons to collect dues, and telecom companies share caller details with unauthorised persons. If the unique ID card is to have universal credibility, Nilekani will have to put systems in place to prevent illegal use of sensitive personal information.

Third, the sheer complexity of the design and technology required for the project calls for someone who is already comfortable with the subject. Nilekani fits the bill.

But pitfalls remain. However great the personal qualities Nilekani brings to the table, he will be able to deliver only if the rest of the government agencies cooperate. It is possible for almost any ministry or department to slow him down, if not scuttle the project, since concurrence will have to be sought from state governments and the home, defence, and finance ministries (to name just a few).

This is because everything from citizenship to taxation, pensions, voting rights, and subsidised education and food may depend on this card, which will need ministerial cooperation. To map 1.2 billion people while weeding out non-citizens is a challenge like no other in the world. One can imagine the howls of political protest when immigrants from Bangladesh or infiltrators from Pakistan-occupied Kashmir are sought to be excluded. The whole thing can work only if Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi put their collective political weight behind Nilekani.

To be sure, competence is not the monopoly of the private sector. The success of the Delhi Metro under the stewardship of E Sreedharan, a railways veteran, shows that political will has to back competence to get any work done in mega projects. If that is missing, even the best professionals cannot deliver.

For this reason alone, the nation has a vested interest in ensuring the success of the Unique ID project under Nilekani. If it works, it would serve as the blueprint for the induction of other competent business professionals into many critical areas of government and governance.