Why We Need Citizen ID

In the information age, IT is finding an increasing role in

governance. A big gap is the management of population-related statistics or

databases, which are usually huge and unwieldy. There’s been a population

explosion. Government business is becoming more complex, with more departments,

posts, institutions and districts being created. Legislation needs to be rapid,

and at times mind-boggling.

While technology has leapt ahead, retaining the old methods,

ledgers and systems is common. The result is that "information

confusion" seems to perpetually afflict public systems. Delays, which lead

to corruption, are also by-products, as those involved in the decision-making process are either not clear about the rules that need to be applied or even aware of where to look for what. This is again due to poor information management, the absence of databases and the inadequacies in database maintenance and administration. Manual maintenance of such databases, apart from being costly, also leads to inaccuracies that take enormous time and effort to detect-and then there’s subsequent correction.

Several departments of the government conduct periodic

surveys and verification to keep their population databases updated. The effort

taken and the expenditure incurred by each department are enormous. But one

department cannot easily use the data of the other. Also, updation done by one

department does not automatically mean that the database of another department

will be updated. So several departments continue with their independent

databases and there is no overall database maintained that would give a complete

or full picture about a city or town. The resultant redundancies can well be

imagined!

Thus the election department maintains a database of all

voters. The income tax department maintains a separate database of all IT

assessees, local bodies maintain lists of property tax and profession tax

assessees, trade and building licensees and so on. The telephone and electricity departments maintain their own list of customers, so do the water board and the commercial taxes department. Each of these departments maintains a database that is structured differently, used for different purposes, and are absolutely un-correlated or correlatable.

The experience of the income tax department a year ago was

most enlightening. Given the task of widening the assessee base using four

criteria (ownership of phone, property or vehicle, and foreign visits) though

they were able to access data from different departments or sources it was found

that the data from different sources could just not be simply merged or

correlated. It would take man-years of programming effort and computer time to

arrive at a semblance of a database.

Accuracy is another casualty. Ration cards are one area where

database discrepancies often exist. These translate into huge costs for

government. Sometimes the number of ration cards even outstrips the number of

households that can possibly exist in a given area.

Recently a survey of those below the poverty line was taken

up. This took several months of heavy work. Still, the results in some cases

were startling to say the least. One local body reported 90% of families as

being below the poverty line. However, when a re-survey was conducted the

figures magically dropped down to 40%!

This reflects a lot on the quality of surveys and their

utility. Assume that an already existing database, say the ration card data, is

used so that households with higher levels of income can straight away be

eliminated for the purpose of the survey that is to be conducted. However, once

the survey is conducted it may be again difficult to cross reference between the

two databases except through usage of the ration card number. In the meantime,

families may have split or shifted, and new cards may have been issued with the

result that it again becomes difficult to pin point the exact household that is

referred to by a card number.

The election department has computerized its electoral rolls.

This perhaps is the most comprehensive population database in existence. If this

were required to be cross-referenced with respect to the civil supplies database

the only common key would be the door number of the house. However, it is

possible that the street names may not be similarly entered in the two databases

(Depending on how the application form was entered or  how the survey was

done, the same road can be written in different ways: human beings can make out

the names refer to the same road but the computer cannot. Examples: Mt. Road,

Mount Rd.) Also, the same name (of an elector or a ration card holder) may be

entered in the two databases in different ways. Since no standardized formats

for data entry are currently prescribed it would be virtually impossible to

compare correlate and cross-reference the two databases.

How could this have been remedied?

A unique number for each citizen, if it exists, can be

instrumental in saving a lot of money, time and effort. Correlation between the

databases maintained by different departments is simply impossible in the

present set-up due to the lack of such a number.

A new national database

Imagine each citizen being given a unique identification

number, a "Citizen ID number" that would never again be allotted to

any other citizen. Also imagine that all the above databases maintained by

different departments carried just this one additional field containing the

Citizen ID number (CIN). And that it is made compulsory for this number to be

quoted in all state-related transactions.

This CIN would introduce the element of correlation between

various databases that is now lacking. Citizens would be saved the botheration

of needing to keep track of a variety of numbers like the PAN, sales tax

assessment number, passport and bank account numbers, property assessment ,

electricity, gas and water connection numbers.

What would be the other benefits? Firstly, searching within

and across databases would become much more simple, scientific and rational. It

would not matter if people mispronounced names or if names got recorded wrongly

by the survey staff. As long as the CIN is properly quoted all problems in

respect of pin-pointing individuals would vanish. Thirdly, if members of a

family are registered as voters it would be easy to check their possession of a

family card. Using the birth and death registration details it would be easy to

identify those reaching the voting age as well as in deleting the names of those

dead. If any survey is conducted by any department just by using this one

number, any other department can access the details of this survey and also use

it to compare and contrast the status of different individuals.

And very important but ludicrous and laughable survey results

would be things of the past since survey data would be verifiable (without the

5% or 1% "super-checks" or the so called "door-to-door

verification," which are as impractical as they are incorrect). Thus,

maintenance of databases by different departments would become synergistic and

complementary. A lot of money, effort and time presently wasted by several

departments in carrying out similar surveys again and again and yet ending up

with inaccurate data would be saved. The need for frequent "ab-initio"surveys

by different departments would vanish.

When land ownership details are requested from the revenue

department, usually the data in respect of individuals owning land in a district

is available only for that district. But with increasing mobility, large numbers

own lands in more than one district. Consolidation of such land ownership data

across districts is not possible at present; it would become child’s play once

the CIN comes into being.

If quoting the CIN is made compulsory for all

government-related transactions (for a start), enormous benefit can result,

apart from ensuring accuracy. No scheme can succeed unless there is an element

of compulsion. For instance, unless the production of the identity card or

number is made compulsory for certain transactions, citizens will not come

forward to get themselves registered. This scheme is doomed to the same fate as

the electoral identify card where even after frequent appeals only 60% of the

electors have got themselves registered. Since the public knows that there is no

dis-incentive, an element of casualness has crept in, which is hardly conducive

to the success of any scheme!

The list can go on

The grammar for such a number, or code, should be carefully

designed for it to be useful and effective. A kind of beginning has been made

with the "electronic photo identity card (EPIC) number," which will

act as a unique citizen identification number. While contemplating its use as a

general purpose number, some design and practical issues will have to be

addressed. Firstly, the number should be such that it cannot change with space

or time. For instance, if a person were to move to Delhi from Chennai

permanently, his EPIC number would also change; so the number would have to

change every time a person shifts. A permanent citizen number, therefore, should

not be linked to the voting constituency.

However, even if a single citizen identification number

existed, to access data about a citizen one would still have to access several

databases. This would make analysis for all purposes difficult-whether it’s

for policy formulation or for implementation of schemes. All such problems would

vanish if there was a single unified database, whether for population or for

economic indicators. This would mean that all departments use and have access to

one and the same database.

In conclusion it must be stated that with the speed with

which information technology is penetrating the government at all levels, the

day is perhaps not far off when a unified database would become a reality and

accurate information would become much more accessible. But before that we must

make a start with the CIN.

TK Ramachandran



is collector, Ramnathapuram district, Tamil Nadu


The views expressed here are his own