'A lot needs to be done before Nishan becomes a reality'

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.