5. Social Justice Through Aadhaar: An e-Policy Initiative

The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in various domains of governance is more than two decade old in India. India’s orientation towards welfare driven polity based on socialist pattern of society has been further strengthened by the technological interventions in the form of e-Governance for policy formulation and policy implementation. India’s development vision for all has not translated into reality as per the expected lines as the benefits of development have not been equitably shared by all. The distributive injustice has further aggravated the problem of poverty and inequality which has manifested itself in various forms including unemployment, hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Even after 69 years of India’s independence fruits of planned development have not reached at the grass root level. It has become evident that a high rate of growth is not a substitute for genuine policy implementation that seeks to ensure equitable distribution of the gains of development. Therefore, there is a need for a public policy through an e-platform for ensuring equitable, fair, transparent, accessible, and participative approach towards development by realising the ethos of social justice. The technology itself can be a biggest leveller which can foster transparency, equity and enhance people’s integration into developmental processes which is vital for strengthening the social justice. The Unique Identity of India UID-Aadhaar is an initiative taken by Government of India (G.O.I) under the overall administrative control and management of Planning Commission in the year 2009. Aadhaar has been entrusted with the massive task of ensuring genuine identity of all throughout the country, in order to establish the rightful claims of citizens for accessing the benefits of various governmental services and programmes. The ICT integration in Aadhaar promotes creation of a digital identity which will lead India towards the next level of transition in the sphere of governance. Aadhaar has gained acceptability in administrative functioning and gradually gaining popularity among the masses. It will be interesting to explore the utility and significance of Aadhaar in rolling out public services. The seeding Aadhaar card with various welfare schemes and subsidy programmes has been made to realise the ethos of social justice and equitable development of all through technology. The adoption of Aadhaar for delivering public services/ schemes to the people is a symbiotic process in which both people and government as stakeholders are mutually benefitted. The government gets benefitted in terms of curbing leakages in target/beneficiary identification and validation of people and for the people to avail the government services in a hassle free, transparent, quick, and simple manner through Aadhaar. Aadhaar has become the world’s biggest biometric id programme with around 1 billion cards which have been rolled out so far, this clearly reflects substantial investment of policy inputs, capital, administrative will and peoples’ participation in making Aadhaar a driving force in creating developmental opportunities, promoting equality and social justice for all.