Confessions of a "SIN"ner
Confessions of a "SIN"ner
With reference to a
media report captioned "Aadhaar must for opening bank accounts,
transactions of Rs 50,000 and above", I had responded thus:
The piece meal introduction of additional
requirements for carrying out normal financial transactions make citizens
averse to innovations and helps middlemen make an easy buck for providing
'services' which in the normal course should come free.
Aadhaar, from the time the idea of
"Universal Identity" was conceived, has suffered from absence of a
'project approach' in implementation. Politicians, professionals, GOI, media
and social activists have contributed in equal measure in confounding the
confusion that was the twin-brother of Aadhaar. At least at this stage, GOI
should professionalize further processes in implementation of Aadhaar and
restore its credibility in the minds of citizens.
All purpose single identity number for each
individual is a still better idea for future. That will solve number
portability issues and minimize the irritants like problems arising from
spelling changes in names, addresses etc caused by outsourced service providers
who manage compilation and processing of data, again sub-contracting the work piece meal to
inefficient unskilled wage-earners.”
On receiving repeated reminders from the
service provider, yesterday I went to the “Gallery” of my mobile phone service
provider to link mobile and Aadhaar numbers. There was a separate counter and a
long queue for ‘Aadhaar linking’. My turn came in about an hour. Madam took my
mobile number, keyed it in her PC and told me “SMS aayegaa” (I’ll get an SMS)
In a few minutes I got an ‘OTP’ number to be used for Aadhaar linking which I
shared with Madam. She then keyed in the OTP and my Aadhaar number to her PC.
Then asked me to keep my finger on a red light on a match box-sized instrument,
which I did. Some four/five fingers were tried on the instrument. I thought my
finger prints have faded due to old age (I'm 72) or ‘ware and tare’. Then suddenly, Madam checked
my Aadhaar Card and told me with a smile: “Yah Aapkaa Keralawala Aadhaar Card
Hai. System accept karnaa suroo nahee hua…Do maheene baad phir se try karo?”
(This is Aadhaar Card issued in Kerala. System has not started accepting this.
Try after two months?”) As an afterthought she told me that for now they were
linking Mumbai mobile numbers with Mumbai Aadhaar Numbers!
I returned home wiser after understanding
everything about the SIN (Single Identity Number) I had committed (proposed?)
and the universality of Universal Identity.
M G Warrier
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