| >The article mentions fraud is a big issue. When tackling fraud, you must look at 1)exclusions and 2)cost. In the case of aadhaar, we've seen the project baloon in cost and vision over the span of two different governments. There have been savings number reported by the government that have since been redacted by the World Bank (but the government keeps claiming them). At some point, you must take stock and consider if the amount you are spending to tackle fraud in the system - is it worth it? Also, Aadhaar is not a fraud-proof system. The most common type of subsidy-fraud (for food benefits) is quantity fraud where the shopkeeper would sign away 5kg, but only give you 4kg (and sell the other 1kg at a higher rate on the market). There is nothing in the aadhaar system that prevents it (and other kinds of fraud) Second: Exclusions. Jharkhand, with the highest rate of authentication failures has had multiple deaths. Due to how the system works now (you receive benefits in your bank account instead of directly getting subsidized rations), it requires double the effort (which converts to one-fewer working/earning day because of the extra bank trip). https://thewire.in/rights/jharkhand-nagri-ration-pds-direct-... is a harrowing read, if someone's interested. >* Requiring a government ID to enter a middle school art contest. We've gone beyond this. Nursery schools in india for toddlers now demand aadhaar numbers of both parents and the kid. |
Regarding ballooning costs, so many successful programs have had costs that exceeded the plan, so far with Aadhar there has been no evidence that the ballooning costs have been debilitating and on the contrary Aadhar seems to be helping.