Recently, I learnt about Union Home Minister Amit Shah’s idea of issuing a multipurpose identity card for citizens encompassing passport, Aadhaar, driving licence, bank accounts and so on. At present, even an infant needs a multiplicity of cards.
I recently bought a specially designed multi-chambered wallet just to keep cards, but it was in vain. My PAN, Aadhaar, ration and voter ID cards, driving licence, three ATM cards, a variety of insurance cards and a few identity cards gave it an ungainly bulge. If companies making such wallets do a field survey, they will be dismayed to know the limited utility of their products.
If just one person possesses so many cards, imagine how many my 11-member family has to keep. A mother and child protection card is the first card of a lifetime in my parts.
Much earlier, before the introduction of voter ID card by T.N. Seshan, the then Election Commissioner, a citizen without taxable income used to possess only a ration card. Since the bicycle was the prime mode of transport, very few needed a driving licence. Commuters taking buses and trains would, however, buy monthly travel cards at discounted fares.
Status symbol
Even two decades ago, the PAN card was regarded as a status symbol. I possessed one after the age of 40.
There are only a lucky few who do not have to face ordeals in getting a card. I had to make six corrections to my voter ID card. Despite attaching photocopies of the required documents, I did not get flawless voter ID, PAN, Aadhaar and driving licence cards in the first instance. Members of my family too had to go through the excruciating processes of rectification and correction over and over again. Officials giving card applicants the runaround, despite producing all substantial documents, should face action. After getting a flawless voter, Aadhaar or PAN card, one might have every reason to feel conceited. But then comes the pain of keeping them safe.
I was deeply mortified when I went to submit my biometric data to secure my Aadhaar. To me, harvesting a person’s fingerprint or iris data is tantamount to making a forensic report of a hardcore criminal. Aadhaar signifies the government’s distrust of its citizens. Cards and numbers often confound me. Once I mistakenly tried to insert my PAN card in an ATM machine.
Amid a crowd of cards and numbers, I often tend to commit mistakes. Despite undergoing the KYC process several times, banks keep asking for details off and on. The clerks in the counters maintain a stoical reticence when reminded of previous submissions. Therefore, I always keep ready a large packet filled with photocopies of all the cards required for KYC.
The idea of a multipurpose card deserves praise. But the million dollar question is which card will be master card. Only 900 million citizens were eligible to vote in the Lok Sabha election in 2019. So not the voter ID card. Whatever controversy there may be surrounding Aadhaar, it should be the natural choice for its reach to more than 1.2 billion people.
nandi.budha@gmail.com