On the genesis of the TCS report:
The MHA, as a department or a ministry, is not much concerned about the
economy and other related aspects of the country. Its mandate is internal
security. For long, there was this feeling that internal security, to a large
extent, was being threatened by illegal migrants in the country. These aliens
were not only enjoying all rights and privileges of an Indian citizen, they were
also extensively using the already scarce resources. This led to the feeling
within the ministry to do something. Unfortunately, any such move can not have
been restricted to border areas and selected pockets. One, it would not have
been socially feasible and would not solve the problem. Two, politically it
would not fly because that would mean pinpointing certain communities. The
solution was to have a database of citizen across the country. The ministry also
realized that no existing government or institution was in a position to handle
such a project. Also, there was a feeling that the need was to involve a
platform neutral consulting agency to look into the feasibility aspects of such
a massive exercise. About eight companies made presentations before the MHA and
TCS was selected to do the job.
On the mandate for TCS:
Our mandate at this point of time is simply to check all the systems that are
available, all the studies done in the past, all the pillars that exist whether
it’s the IT PAN or ration card or the electoral roll. We were also asked to
probe whether an exercise like this to create a citizen database and issue
national ID cards is feasible. TCS has also been asked to work out the cost of
the project as well as the technological approaches
On the revenue model:
While looking at it from the consultant’s perspective, we also evaluated
the revenue generation aspect of Nishan as well so that it becomes a
self-sustaining project. Such a database involves not only initial creation cost
there is also going to be a recurring maintenance cost. You may charge a citizen
once, but the government can not go back to them each year. Also, if the project
could generate sufficient revenue by commercially exploiting the database, the
burden on government would get substantially reduced. For example, out of the
‘X" amount that the government charges for a passport or a driving
license, certain percentage can come to the special purpose vehicle (SPV)
managing the database. This would be paid to the SPV for providing references to
these other agencies. However, the commercial exploitation would depend on the
legislation governing the SPV and the privacy clause attached. If the
legislation says that the information provided would be protected, then
obviously the opportunity to exploit it commercially is limited.
On the current status:
We have done the feasibility study and have made several presentations. There
is a model that we have proposed that could make the project feasible. It’s
based on the market-driven franchisee model. However, the project needs to
undergo the pilot stage, as a feasibility study can never be very comprehensive.
We need to cross check it through a sample test whether the assumptions are
correct or not. Obviously there is a lot of work to be done before the project
could actually be implemented.
On TCS’ future role in this project:
It has not been defined as yet. Our mandate, as I said, was simply to do the
feasibility study and we have already done that. Obviously, the feasibility
report would be refined based on feedback from different government quarters and
the process is on. As far as TCS’ future role in this project is concerned it
up to the government to decide. If there is a mandate for TCS in the next step,
definitely we will participate.