Unique Identification Number could become mandatory

New Delhi, Oct 17 (PTI) The 16-digit Unique
Identification number that the government proposes to give you
could become mandatory for opening a bank account, getting
your passport or even your driving licence, among others.

The Unique Identification Number (UID) scheme, which
is expected to roll out the first number in 12-18 months,
however, will not confer on anyone any rights, including
citizenship, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)
Chairman Nandan Nilekani said.

Stressing that the UID at present is completely
voluntary, Nilekani, the Infosys co-founder who quit the IT
firm to head the ambitious government project, said the number
will become "pervasive and ubiquitous" in future.

"When you to get a passport, they will say where is
your UID number, when you go to get a driving licence, they
will say where is your UID number, when you go to tax, they
will say where is your UID number, you go to open a bank
account, they will say where is your UID number. Sooner or
later you will have to get your UID number," Nilekani told PTI
in an interview.

He said that in the coming years, all the above
mentioned documents will start displaying the UID number,
which proposes to weed out duplicate identities in the system,
and hence the "number will become pervasive and ubiquitous. It
will become embedded in all these documents."

He said, "It is not mandatory but more applications
will make it a prerequisite. So sooner or later your life
becomes simpler if you have the number." (More) PTI SAP
JVN


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