Not having an Aadhar might deny you essential public services in Delhi from as early as January 2013. Dharam Pal, revenue secretary, Government of Delhi, said that the ministry is looking at linking all services of the department to Aadhar like registration of property, issuance of caste, income and marriage certificates and of OBC certificates. “There could be denial of services if you do not have an Aadhar,” he said.

The Delhi government also planning to make Aadhar number mandatory for all public services from next year; according to a report a proposal has already been made and will be sent to the cabinet for approval.

The government is accepting Aadhar enrolment numbers for the services and those who do not have the numbers, can receive it from their district offices. Delhi has a population of around 16 million and out of that 13 million people have been enrolled in the first phase while 10.3 million have received it formally on the paper. If all goes well, the entire population of Delhi should be covered by Aadhar in the second phase of enrolments. With Aadhar becoming essential for essential services, this will not be a problem at all.

The government is also planning to connect the ‘Annashree Yojna’ with Aadhar to make sure that the benefits reach the intended beneficiaries. Annashree Yojna was announced in the 2012-13 budget to provide relief and food security to those households which were not covered under BPL. In this scheme, Rs 600 will be transferred every month to the bank account of the most senior female of the household. According to government plans, these women would be able to able to open their bank accounts without any hassles with the help of Aadhar.

There are more services in the pipeline to be delivered through Aadhar number in India. Nandan Nilekani, UID project chief expressed a desire on Monday to provide “compelling services” through Aaadhar to incentivise people to enrol and also to make the project irreversible and independent of the wishes of the central or state government. There are plans to provide mobile connections through Aadhar in the future; a pilot is already running in Hyderabad by a leading mobile service provider. 

UID has always maintained that enrolling in Aadhar will be voluntary and people will be allowed to exercise their choice for the same. However, with the government making Aadhar mandatory for all public services in the country, the enrolment exercise is not going to be voluntary anymore. For urban Indians, there was nothing that an Aadhar could provide them that a passport, driving license or Epic card could not.

However, this scenario is soon going to change as new KYC rules will mandatorily need an Aadhar. Many people who did not enrol due to fears of profiling or increased surveillance by the state will have to leave their apprehensions aside and go and get an Aadhar number. This might have come a tad bit too soon and it looks like linking the direct cash transfer scheme to the 12 digit UID number has given an incentive for state governments to link services to Aadhar as soon as possible. Delhi has begun the process and it is hardly a matter of time when other states also join the process.

The government however will have to be careful as with a sudden urgency for an Aadhar number, there will be a rush for enrollment which might lead to corrupt practices and am increase in the number of agents and brokers. There have been reports where brokers and agents have been seen charging Rs 100 to Rs 500 for Aadhar which is being provided free of cost to the people.