Let’s Make a Citizen Out of You: The Rise of Biometric Identification in India

Source: Ruth Fremson, New York Times

In many developing countries, lack of documentation can be a major obstacle for people who want to claim their rights to citizenship. India, in particular, has as many as 400 million people unaccounted for.

In the book Paper Citizens, Kamal Sadiq explores India’s over-dependence on documentary citizenship and the difficulties created for the government to distinguish between who is a legal citizen and who is not. The current national identification card (NID) leads to problems such as “blurred citizenship” where many natural-born citizens (unable to receive government benefits without NIDs) resort to fake documentation in order to receive benefits such as access to government welfare programs, the ability to open a bank account or enroll in school, and protection from wrongful deportation from their homes.

This problem is most common in poor, isolated areas that the government cannot reach. In such areas, it is difficult to acquire something as simple as a birth certificate because the nearest hospital may be miles away. As a result, this makes it increasingly difficult for the child to obtain legal documentation as s/he grows older. An added dilemma is that paper documentation is easily lost. For those have legal documentation, one unforeseen natural disaster could easily wipe out everything, leaving many unaccounted for.

In an attempt to rectify these problems, a recent private-public partnership in India has developed the unique identity (UID) scheme. This project electronically stores biometric data, such as thumbprint and iris scans, in order to establish national identity. After registering with UID, each person receives a 12-digit AADHAAR number that serves as their ID. Since its inception in 2009, UID has recorded 200 million out of India’s 1.2 billion people. The program plans to scan 600 million people into its database by 2014.

UID could have major benefits for India. For one, if UID reaches its goal of scanning the entire Indian population, it would make it difficult for illegal citizens to falsely acquire government benefits. The poorest would benefit greatly from the system as they would be allowed those rights from which they were previously barred and be safe from the threat of deportation. Another major benefit of the program is that it allows the government to electronically send money to banks and village shops, allowing for easier distribution of government welfare benefits. It must be asked, however, how this program determines who is a rightful citizen and who is not. Many illegal citizens have been successful in acquiring real documentation through fake means and could easily be put into the system. This could seriously undermine the validity of UID and level it to that of the current NID program.

However, if a country does choose to implement biometric identification schemes, Alan Gelb of the Center for Global Development (CGD) explains that, “enabling citizens to establish an official identity is a crucial part of the development process.” It allows for everyone to be accounted for, especially in instances of natural disasters or conflict. In Afghanistan and Pakistan, two countries with documentation problems similar to those of India, biometric scanning ensured that over 200,000 returning refugees received only one repatriation payment. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, biometric scanning has been useful in demobilization grants. According to CGD, there are already eleven African countries taking part in some type of biometric identification (a complete list can be found here).

Tom Cruise in Minority Report getting an iris scan.

This may be a bit reminiscent of Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, a film based in a 2054 Washington D.C. that is dependent on retinal scanning to track its citizens. Similarly, the UID scheme has met resistance as many feel that the program may lead to misuse of private information for government benefit. Opponents frequently cite countries such as the United Kingdom, the United States and France, which did away with their own biometric identification programs because they impeded on the rights of their citizens.  In addition, a major concern is that the UID is linked with the National Population Register rather than the national census, allowing information gathered for the UID program to be widely shared (information sent to the national census is confidential). Many fear that because there are a number of U.S. corporations involved in the project, Washington will also have access to this information.

While such concerns may be warranted, this is not reason enough to do away with biometric scanning just yet.  Perhaps in order to ease such doubts, India could invest in stronger data-protection laws in order to better protect its citizens and dismiss any fears of breaches in confidentiality.

Education: When Is It Enough?

Many development theorists emphasize the role of education as a factor to promoting economic development. While there is no sole way to go about development, education has proven to be one of the driving forces in fast-growing countries, particularly the Newly Industrialized Countries (NICs) in Asia. However, it seems the Asian education system will soon become the stumbling block of the NICs.

Education is a serious endeavor in these countries. Confucian values and the meritocratic structure of society collectively emphasize the role of education in one’s future success. China, South Korea and Singapore have made primary education compulsory. All three countries hold national college examinations, a yearly high-stakes examination that college-aspiring students sit for. In the event that these students obtain unsatisfactory results, they will be denied admission to prestigious universities and will have to wait an entire year before they can retake the exams. Repeaters are not looked upon favorably.

What (and Who) Took Down Polio in India?

Flash back two years or so, to 2009. Polio had largely been eradicated globally, with only a few countries still experiencing the debilitating disease. Unfortunately, India was one of those unlucky countries. With 741 reported cases of polio in 2009 alone, India had the regrettable distinction of having the most cases of any country and,  overall, more than half of the world’s polio infections. The nation struggled to find more effective and reliable ways to combat polio and prevent it from taking a further hold.

Source: wisdomblow.com

Now fast forward to the present. A few days ago, India happily announced that it has had no new cases of polio for the 2011 year, an incredible improvement from the high levels that existed just two years before. These results were almost entirely due to a vast and ambitious effort that sent 2.3 million vaccinators around the country to give 900 million doses of the polio vaccine that prevents the disease. An obvious question comes to mind: how was such a large and complex mission possible, and ultimately successful?

Cutting Corruption by Raising Government Salaries?

Corruption is a common barrier to development—it deters governments and individuals from investing in certain types of aid assistance and development projects. Instead of allowing funds to flow safely and efficiently between groups, corruption adds overhead costs to projects and usually demands bribes for bypassing bureaucratic red tape. Worst of all, people suffer when their governments incessantly block aid and reap the benefits themselves. This is also why some development theorists maintain that government and institutions need to be reformed in order to actually achieve development goals.

But what if there was a simple solution for all of this? What if there was a way to ensure that the government was not corrupt, and would facilitate growth and foreign investments?

Haiti: Two Years On…

Last Thursday marked the second year anniversary of the 7.0 magnitude earthquake that caused horrific casualties and damage in Haiti. The reconstruction progress has reportedly been slow on many fronts. However, the expectation for tremendous results in two years in a country that has historically been divided along racial lines and rocked by political conflict is unrealistic and discouraging for development workers.

The outlook on Haiti appears frustrating. With the fate of the Interim Haiti Recovery Commission (IHRC) still up in the air, there is no governmental apparatus in place to determine which reconstruction projects will be awarded funds from international aid.

Source: http://www.npr.org

President Michel Martelly, better known as Sweet Micky to the locals, has done little to inspire confidence in the Haitian government. During his short term, his choices for Prime Minister were dismissed twice and he was unable to persuade his Parliament to extend IHRC’s mandate. The unemployment rate remains high at 40.6%, and tent cities remain the only housing option for 500,000 Haitians. Local Haitians complain that international aid is funneled directly to foreign nongovernmental organizations or contractors, bypassing local labor. When government projects are overlooked in favor of foreign firms, Haitians end up losing out as fewer jobs are created locally.

Growth in an Unlikely Place: Tourism in Libya

After more than four decades of repressive rule under Muammar Gaddafi, opposition fighters in Libya have been successful in overthrowing the authoritarian dictator and setting up a more open, democratic society. Though still in its infancy, the new system has shown potential, drawing upon Libya’s valuable natural resources and fairly educated population. Unfortunately, the future is not all roses. The uprising has largely stagnated the Libyan economy, causing a slowdown in industries across the board and a general sense of uncertainty. Libya plans to address this problem, however, in a way that you may not expect.

When one thinks of vacation spots, sandy beaches and warm sunshine probably come to mind— not the dry, wildly varying climate of Libya. A full-fledged promotion of tourism, however, is exactly what the country plans to put into motion. Officials hope that an influx of tourists can help the country take a big step towards economic recovery.

When Girls Become Liabilities: The Trend of Gendercide in India

Source: The Economist

As illustrated in previous blog posts, women could play a major role in development if societal barriers to education and employment were eliminated. However, these barriers are especially difficult to overcome, as they are molded by centuries of discrimination and unequal treatment.  The act of ‘gendercide’ has been particularly difficult to overlook.

As the name implies, gendercide is “gender-selective mass killing.” The act can refer to the targeting of both males and females; however, the targeting of female infants, or female infanticide, has become deeply embedded in numerous cultures throughout the world. In East Asia specifically, this custom has come as a result of a cultural favoritism for boys over girls. Reasoning varies by region; however, does tend to be primarily economic. Girls are regarded as “liabilities” to the family and the prospects of having a male child are welcomed as a result.

It’s Getting Hot in Here… Notes on the UNFCCC Summit

Source: Hudson CGP/People, for more on Ryan Gosling in Development go here: http://developmentryangosling.tumblr.com/

What’s hotter than Durban, South Africa (besides Ryan Gosling in Development)? That would be the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which recently concluded its annual meeting there (referred to as the COP17). The main topic of discussion was the Kyoto Protocol and how the UNFCCC can extend its regulations on carbon emissions. Currently, the Kyoto Protocol only binds industrialized countries to specific emissions levels, which are due to expire next year. Developing countries, in contrast, can voluntarily decide to reduce their own emissions. However, three main barriers continue to exist, despite the successful attempt to push through an agreement by the end of the two-week summit that will result in meetings in 2015 and 2020.

The first is that the biggest polluters (U.S., China, and India) have failed to ratify the treaty (the U.S.), or view it as a significant obstacle to poverty alleviation (China and India). The second is that the rich countries, most significantly affected by the Kyoto agreement, are calling for a more even distribution of limitations (instead of targeting rich countries for the majority of emissions cuts and allowing developing countries to continue to pollute). The final obstacle to seeing results is that the Kyoto Protocol does not dictate a legal framework that enforces the emissions limitations. As a result, the meeting in Durban sought to create a new agreement that would allow for continued funding of green initiatives, encourage countries to renew their emissions commitments, and decide upon an international governing body to mandate climate objectives.

The New Buzz in Development

Sweet Beginnings team

It seems that insects can be quite handy at times. In addition to malaria-fighting spiders, bees have also been doing their part in development abroad and here in the U.S. At the recent Inaugural Bipartisan Congressional Conference on Innovation in Giving and Philanthropy, Brenda Palms Barber discussed a business called Sweet Beginnings, developed through the North Lawndale Employment Network, which exclusively employs formerly incarcerated individuals. Originally, Lawndale provided job training to released offenders, however, Barber explains, “When people were ready for placement, we couldn’t find them jobs.” And that’s where the bees come in.

Based in Chicago, Sweet Beginnings produces its own honey, which is then used to create its line of all-natural beeline® products. It employs recently released felons in order to help them “establish work history, learn productive work habits, and gain marketable skills.” Employees assist in all forms of the business, from harvesting honey, creating the beeline® products, and selling the product at retail stores and events. This opens new and more lucrative employment opportunities, rather than falling back into a cycle of crime. Compared to the national average of 65 percent, the rate of former Sweet Beginnings employees returning to jail is below 4 percent. Along with this, the business, much to the surprise most, has been doing remarkably well. Annually, the company brings in $100,000 in sales and has made $2 million in project sales from the last five years.

The Philanthropic Fork in the Road

Apparently philanthropy can no longer be the epitome of altruism. Instead, it needs to yield a smart business decision, too. Philanthropy, and its many facets, was discussed recently in the Wall Street Journal’s “The Journal Report.”

In the philanthropy world, there are usually two decisions to make: which organizations (of thousands) should I donate to, and how much should I give? Well, a third question has been added to that decision-making process, one that might not be easy to ignore. The new, big question: do I invest in an organization that runs its operations like a business and expects returns on investments, or do I invest in one that is addressing a cause I find important and worthwhile? If you’re lucky, the organization fits both criteria. However, the recent financial crises have put a kink in that idea, promoting the need for safer investment and more calculated giving strategies.