Aadhaar card - " Is this what We need???"

Aadhaar Card Logo

When central government introduced the Aadhaar number I'm very excited that I'm going to get a number for myself which I have seen only in sci-fi movies. But even after getting Aadhaar card I find no practical use for my Aadhaar number other than showing it as an identity proof while travelling and buying free sim cards. I didn't have a bank account and even if I have a bank account it didn't make much sense by linking my Aadhaar number to my bank account since it ends as the formality itself. If linking my Aadhaar number to my account is made mandatory that what is the use of PAN number which I applied and got from IT department. 

You may wonder that I'm criticizing everything regarding Aadhaar number. But what I expected about Aadhaar number is that a debit card styled card made of carbon fibre (it sounds geeky) with all my details encoded in a small microchip or a magnetic strip with following functionalities

1. I go to bank and open a bank account by just giving the Aadhaar number and no more. Of course a surety by another person and formal signature in lot of boring papers is necessary.

2. I apply for a job by just giving the Aadhaar number with few signatures here and there.

3. I drive a car and a traffic police stops me and asks me for my license and I give my Aadhaar card the traffic police checks it via a specialised bar code reader and lets me drive. That's it!!! Even without asking money.

4. I thought that Aadhaar card will make me forget my name, address, reduces my need to carry a PAN card, Driving license, Voters ID, School ID, College ID, Office ID and even more since all that information are decoded in the Aadhaar card itself.

But What I really get is that a cheap paper card from UIDAI office after 6 month of taking my photographs and getting all my particulars. I wonder did it really took that much time to print such a cheap card. If I keep it in my wallet for more than a day it'll worn out into nothing. With an extra job of keeping the highly fragile Aadhaar card in my wallet and filling my 12 digit Aadhaar number in all the places of official use, it is nowhere near my expectations. I ask the UIDAI officials to have an insight of what they were doing. Even without developing the platform for actual practice it is not fair to mandate it for official work, since it adds no value proportion to the end user in any means and it even ends up as a burden to the end user.

AAP's enlightenment schemes and Economics

AAP success on Delhi election is still a miracle sending shock waves not only to other parts of the county but to the entire world. In industry there is always a fear for the unknown that is someone from nowhere comes and disrupts the entire Market and becomes the Market leader, but now this notion is applicable for politics also with the success of AAP in Delhi. When AAP party came to power in Delhi(with support from INC) I had a good feeling for its success. I'm sure that the AAP's success will bring positive changes in all part of the country because ruling parties now knew that if they keep on giving poor governance they'll be thrown out of the political race. But AAP itself proved that I was wrong and it is also a normal political party by it's populist measure. After coming to the power AAP's reforms to curb corruption and spur growth is by giving free water supply and slashing the power tariff. Delhi AAP government created a anticorruption helpline and i agree that it is welcome move. But still providing free water supply and slashing the power tariff is not what we expect from a anti corruption reformist AAP government. But by doing so Aravind Kejriwal proved that he is just a aam aadmi and not a good leader. One question I have for the AAP government is that "Is it sustainable in longer run?". What about the money deployed for those giveaway schemes. Everyone is the state pays tax in some form either by direct or indirect by means of VAT, service tax e.t.c., it is not fair to waste all the hard earned tax money in free schemes. I agree that it is the task of government to provide water and electricity at low cost, that doesn't mean that government should provide those below the market price of the product. AAP should have done something more like improving the infrastructure of the power distribution and water supply which in turn increases the efficiency of the system which can reduce the cost of the product. The more scaring thing is the spill out effect of his measures; more state governments may end up giving more free schemes disrupting the efficiency of the system. If people can get everything for free then who'll work. I think political parties need to think twice before giving freebies. It is better if government can create more jobs and make the citizen to buy products in Market price instead of reducing the cost of the product and giving away as freebie, we expect the government not to indulge in such unviable and unproductive activities in name of reforms.