India’s Aadhaar (aka Universal Id) is creating a new platform that entrepreneurs can leverage to create new services to reach the masses in India
With the Union Budget for 2013, the Indian government doubled its spending to a massive INR 2,620 crores (USD 436 million) in 2013-14 on the Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) Aadhaar program. Why would the government of the largest democracy, with a population of over 122 crores (1.22 billion), battling issues like rampant corruption, non-availability of primary healthcare to everyone, inequalities in education, poor infrastructure etc. spend so heavily on issuing “Unique Identification” cards to its people? Will issuing additional identification cards deliver real benefits to the 86% Indians currently living below the poverty line?