It’s hard for many in India to envision life before Aadhaar. Digital biometric IDs, which claim to be accessible to all Indians, were rolled out just 15 years ago, yet they have become an integral part of daily life.

An Aadhaar number is now essential for purchasing a home, securing employment, opening a bank account, paying taxes, receiving benefits, buying a vehicle, obtaining a SIM card, booking priority train tickets, and enrolling children. Infants receive their Aadhaar number immediately after birth. Although it is not obligatory, lacking an Aadhaar effectively renders one invisible to the state, according to digital rights advocates.

For Umesh Patel, 47, a textile businessman in Ahmedabad, Aadhaar has been a welcome change. He reminisces about the days of hauling stacks of paperwork to government offices just to verify his identity, often with little success. Now, with a quick glimpse of his Aadhaar, “everything flows smoothly,” he said, viewing it as “a testament to how our nation utilizes technology for its citizens’ benefit.”

“It’s a solid system that has simplified our operations,” Patel asserts. “Moreover, it enhances our country’s security by minimizing the risk of forged documents.”

“Aadhaar has become an integral part of Indian identity.”

The initiative has been deemed so effective that it caught the attention of the UK government, which considered the introduction of mandatory ID cards for its citizens. However, digital rights groups, activists, and humanitarian organizations highlight a less favorable perspective of Aadhaar and its effects on Indian society.

For some of India’s most underprivileged and least educated individuals (those unable to engage with the Aadhaar system due to issues like illiteracy, lack of education, or missing documentation), the system can be exclusionary and punitive, denying essential access to welfare and employment. With increasing moves to link Aadhaar to voting rights and citizenship, concerns arise that it may further disenfranchise and stigmatize the impoverished.

Apal Gupta, founder and director of the Internet Freedom Foundation in Delhi, stated that Aadhaar has become a digital obligation for many people in India, as Aadhaar-based verification is required to access government services, enter public venues, or carry on with their daily activities.

Mr. Gupta asserted that Aadhaar has “metastasized” since its inception, morphing into an extensive bureaucratic network of unique IDs required for business operations. “The essence of your existence is scrutinized at every juncture,” he remarked.

Critics contend that the current draft of India’s data protection and privacy law is inadequate for safeguarding privacy or preventing potential misuse of the invaluable Aadhaar database, which includes biometric data such as photos, facial and iris scans, and fingerprints of over a billion Indians.

Indian media has uncovered multiple instances of Aadhaar data breaches over the years, including a 2018 incident where data pertaining to 1.1 billion individuals was found to be sold online for a mere 500 rupees (£5).

“According to this yet-to-be-notified law, there is no mechanism to ascertain if a data breach has been documented, and there is a lack of oversight on how Aadhaar data is consolidated with other databases, risking broader public surveillance and tracking,” Mr. Gupta noted. “Transparency is entirely absent.”

Although Aadhaar was initiated before Prime Minister Narendra Modi assumed office in 2014, his governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has significantly promoted and expanded the digital ID initiative. As India prepares to host the G20 summit in 2023, Prime Minister Modi referenced Aadhaar as one of the flagship achievements of ‘Digital India’, which he describes as an incubator for innovation. He asserts that India has saved over $22 billion by combating corruption in the welfare system.

The government highlights the extensive uptake of Aadhaar as an indicator of its success and inclusivity. As of last month, more than 1.42 billion Aadhaar numbers had been generated, corresponding to roughly the entire population of India, making it the largest digital identity program globally. Before this initiative, over 400 million Indians lacked any official identification and were unable to access banking services.

Yet the reality, particularly in rural and tribal regions, diverges sharply from the image portrayed by the government, as noted by Chakradhar Buddha, a senior researcher at Livetech India, an organization aimed at assisting those marginalized by India’s transition to digitalization.

“The deprivation of Aadhaar is pervasive among tribal communities, people in mountainous regions, and those in remote areas, and this reality is largely overlooked,” Buddha stated.

“This situation arises partly from a lack of proper documentation or incomplete documentation capture. Moreover, technological advancements create further obstacles that disproportionately affect the most vulnerable populations. Ultimately, this system undermines access to crucial social security and welfare for those most in need.”

Mr. Buddha challenged the government’s assertion that Aadhaar represents an infallible form of identification, recounting numerous instances where incorrect names and details led to significant issues for communities. For instance, in one village, tribal individuals lacked birth certificates and were assigned January 1 as their birthdate, while tribal names are often misspelled on Aadhaar cards due to unfamiliarity among officials.

Highlighting the recent example of millions of impoverished workers being erroneously removed from government support systems after the implementation of Aadhaar certification, Buddha cautioned that using Aadhaar as the universal standard for voting rights could result in “mass purges of the poorest from electoral registers.”

“These individuals have already been stripped of social equality. Now, Aadhaar is being utilized to deny them their right to political equality and universal suffrage,” Buddha stated.

Among those recently at risk of lacking an Aadhaar card was Ahram Sheikh, 34, an uneducated worker, who had important identification documents, including his Aadhaar card, stolen while on a train.

The aftermath was a nightmarish experience. He couldn’t recall his Aadhaar number from a decade earlier, rendering him unable to obtain a replacement card. Without it, he had to discontinue his construction job, losing crucial income for his family, and as a result, his son ultimately dropped out of school.

Months later, after traveling thousands of miles back to his village, Sheikh remained unable to resolve the issue and secure a new card. He now lives in constant fear of being declared an illegal alien without it.

“This Aadhaar system has turned into a nightmare for us. Why can’t the government establish proper institutions?” Sheikh lamented. “Everything in this country works against the poor, and this Aadhaar card is no exception.”

Aakash Hassan contributed reporting