An identity card or a smart card is necessary for every citizen of a country as it addresses national security, management of citizen identity and facilitates e-governance. To provide every Indian citizen with a unique identity card, the Indian government has deployed the National Unique Identification Card Project (NUIDCP). Until now, no other country in the world has attempted to undertake a project of such a massive scale, which in due course of time will deliver over 1 billion smart cards to Indian citizens.

The accomplishment of a project of this magnitude would require a time frame of at least three to five years. It is sure to face a large number of issues no matter who leads it. Therefore it is necessary that the Indian government, Nandan Nilekani and his team are given at least three to 5 years before they are criticized for any failures.

The applications of a smart card for a large country like India, is beyond one s imaginations -- it could be used to save lives. For instance, if a person meets with an accident and is rushed to the hospital, the doctor attending this person can obtain crucial information about the person. This information could include blood group, known allergies, etc. This will ensure that the doctor will be able to treat the patient better and faster. Card readers can also be installed in ambulances, apart from hospitals, so that patients can be given the necessary treatment as soon as possible.

Another application of the smart card could be in online voting. In the recent general elections, the voter turnout in a city like Mumbai was little over 40 percent. The reasons for the low voter turnout could be many, however if citizens had a smart card, they could have voted online -- from any part of the country.

Though there are numerous benefits of smart cards, there is a flipside to it too. Smart cards could be hacked, cracked, cloned, etc. The smart card could find itself in the hands of any government, friend, foe or a hacker. While some would hack the smart card for profit, some as an intellectual exercise and some for sheer publicity.

To assess as to how secure the smart cards are, the government should actually conduct an international hacking conference and offer a reward to the first group that can hack these smart cards. Additionally, it should also offer prototypes of the actual cards to hacking organizations all over the world to break into.

If smart cards are misplaced or stolen, there must be a system in place that can give them a fresh card with minimum fuss. The issue of data privacy is very important all over the world and it must be given the same importance in India also. Although thefts cannot be prevented, there should be a guarantee of data protection. Data encryption could protect the card from being misused but there is still no foolproof encryption method. Some other security techniques should be considered such as two-and three-factor authentication and minimal data should be stored on the cards while the rest should be stored in a central database.

The deployment of this project is sure to cost tens of thousands of crores, which is why transparency should be maintained from day one. XBRL (eXtensible Business Reporting Language), a language for the electronic communication of business and financial data is now becoming a global standard. The Do not Trust Us, Track Us mantra by U.S. President Obama should be followed. Therefore it is necessary that XBRL becomes a standard for the future governments and its use be mandated by the law.

India is seen as a world leader in technology and the world looks at us to solve their technology problems. As a result, it would not show us in good light if we used foreign help to deploy this large technology project. Though some sections of the country believe we should take foreign help, we would be better off if we used the best technology and brains available in the country. For this the National ID card project should be a 'Made in India' project. This project would also kick start technology business in India.

To sum it up, the main reason for a Unique ID is to fight terror. No other country in the world has suffered as much as India has from terrorism. The only way of combating terror is by uniquely identifying every Indian. This is a starting point in the war against terror. Once implemented, a lot of sectors like banking, insurance, etc would use these cards for business. The Government could recoup some of the project s costs by charging every user a fixed amount.

This project should stay above politics and it would be successful over a period of time.  Every Indian must join hands to make the National ID card project a success.