India before Aadhaar (2009)

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The Importance of Citizen Identity Documents

The need to prove who we are and where we live is a recurring  requirement  in our life.  When we travel by train we need to prove that you are the same person whom the travel ticket is booked,  when you go to the bank to open a new account, you need to prove your place of residence.  In many developing countries individuals do not have documents to prove their identity. This prevents them from accessing services provided by both the private and public sectors. Until 2009, even India had this problem: no universal citizen identity document. 
Before 2009 , in India, a ration card, which is issued to households and lists the members of the household, is perhaps the most ubiquitous form of identification. This allows certain households, particularly the poor, to access subsidised grains, sugar, kerosene and LPG gas through the public distribution system. Financial inclusion also requires identification or what banks call the KYC (know your customer) credentials.
The ration card may be ubiquitous but it is not universal in that not every household in India has one. India has a population of about 1.22 billion people, 29% of whom live below the poverty line. In 2008, 20% of those living below the poverty line did not have ration cards. In addition, corruption and fraud are rampant in 2016, the government found 21.6 million fraudulent ration cards.

India before Aadhaar

Before the advent of digital India,  citizen services were brick and mortar modeled - 

  • paper based- ration card, marks card..

  • office bound- visit office to get service/document/ticket 

  • Local-  documents are valid locally - Gas connection

  • involved physical cash  - 

  • demanded  citizen presence for availing service - senior citizen has to go to bank every year to get living certificate,  

  • required wet signature or thumb impression for agreements or acknowledgements.