The Aadhaar Effect

Description

Journalists N.S. Ramnath and Charles Assisi dive deep into the 12-digit number that has touched 1.2 billion lives and counting—and in the bargain, made the world sit up and take note of India’s ambition
The Aadhaar Effect is a journalistic account of one of the biggest and audacious transformational projects in India that leverages the power of technology to help improve the lives of a billion people.
It is the first in a series around themes that Founding Fuel has identified as crucial for those in leadership roles. It has engaged in formal relationships with fine minds and universities across the world so that learnings from thought leaders can be distilled and transmitted on what it takes to shape public policy and build enterprises that last. To know more visit www.foundingfuel.com
The Aadhaar Effect is the story of how India built a bunch of digital platforms to bring hundreds of millions of people into the digital economy—via a national, biometric identity system, a payments interface, a consent architecture, etc. There is deep interest in India’s rise around the world. And Aadhaar is a leitmotif of both India’s tech prowess and social transformation.
Except that not enough people are quite well-versed with the strategic intent—or the transformative power of Aadhaar. The story behind Aadhaar remains, for most part, untold. There is a need for more people to read about, engage and debate the idea behind Aadhaar. Because it holds the key to how India—and indeed other emerging markets—can possibly leapfrog, using the power of technology.
It has kicked up intense, polarised debate on its impact, with some claiming it is all good, and others claiming it is all bad. Both sides miss the truth.
Tens of millions of Indians did not have an identity that was accepted across the country. The government lacked the capacity to provide targeted welfare and benefits to people who needed it most.
By building Aadhaar as an identity platform, a Lego block, the ambitious project aimed to address both issues. It gave identity to every resident in the country. And it allowed governments, social enterprises and businesses to build innovative solutions on top of the platform.
The story of Aadhaar is about how these blocks came to be built and how they are being used, and misused, on the ground.
It’s a story that will be of interest to policy makers, business leaders, tech executives, social entrepreneurs, key influencers in the development sector, and just about anyone who has to deal with this complex, dynamic and messy world.


About The Author

N.S. Ramnath is a senior writer at Founding Fuel Publishing, a digitally led media and learning platform. His main interests lie in technology, business, and society, and how they interact and influence one another. A Polestar 2017 award winner, he writes a regular column on disruptive technologies and takes stock of news and perspectives from across the world. He is also involved with the data start-up How India Lives. Prior to Founding Fuel, Ramnath was with Forbes India and Economic Times as a business journalist. He has also written for The Hindu, Quartz, and Scroll.

Charles Assisi is a co-founder at Founding Fuel. He writes a column in the business daily Mint. He was the managing editor at Forbes India and the founding editor of Forbes Life India. Charles earned his spurs when he introduced CHIP, the Munich-based technology magazine, to India. This assignment led him to work in newsrooms in Europe and other parts of Asia. Subsequently, the Times of India invited him to take over as its national technology editor and later as its national business editor. His work earned Charles the Polestar and Madhu Valluri Awards.

Reviews

Aadhaar is the largest and most ambitious IT project ever undertaken anywhere in the world. It has the potential to improve the lives—and compromise the privacy—of a billion people. N.S. Ramnath and Charles Assisi did an excellent job of documenting its progression. Through extensive research and interviews, they bring Aadhaar’s story to life and offer important lessons to policy makers all over the world.
Vivek Wadhwa, Distinguished Fellow at Harvard Law School and Carnegie Mellon University and author of The Driver in the Driverless Car

This book on Project Aadhaar is an urgent one for those in leadership roles across the world because the future is happening faster. Yet, there is no data about the future, and leaders can only imagine it. They must adapt constantly, set audacious goals in a fuzzy environment, deploy the right people, conserve resources, and use instinct as well.
Ram Charan, global advisor to CEOs and boards, author of numerous books, and articles in Harvard Business Review and Fortune magazine

Here’s a much-needed, clear-eyed, engaging description of the Aadhaar effect, displaying the entrepreneurial team’s chutzpah, ambition, partnership ethos, efficiency, and desire to create public goods at scale. We should celebrate Aadhaar’s numerous positives, but also embrace and deal with the flux it has triggered in society.
Tarun Khanna, Jorge Paulo Lemann Professor, Harvard Business School; Director, Lakshmi Mittal and Family South Asia Institute, Harvard University

India’s overwhelming human capital coexists in an underwhelming community, caged by the state. Aadhaar attempts an audacious breakout. Its outcomes, ground-breaking or otherwise, will echo. Ramnath and Charles string people, events, and ideas with scholarly storytelling. A tour de force.
Sanjeev Aga, former CEO of Idea Cellular and board member at leading companies and non-profits.)

As a nation rebuilt its 21st century digital DNA with Aadhaar, the world’s largest biometric database, journalists Ramnath and Assisi offer a fascinating ringside view, warts and all, of an incredible achievement that is India’s new tryst with destiny.
Raju Narisetti, Professor of Professional Practice, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism

Ramnath and Charles work through a complex maze and come out with an engaging narrative. This book is a great sense-making exercise on India’s greatest information technology tool created so far.
Subroto Bagchi, Chairman, Odisha Skill Development Authority

The Aadhaar Effect is a thorough and provocative analysis of one of the most ambitious efforts of our time. Project Aadhaar could well serve as a blueprint for other countries getting ready for the digital economy.
Sangeet Paul Choudary, Member of the World Economic Forum's Council on Platforms and Systems; co-author of Platform Revolution and author of Platform Scale

The Aadhaar Effect is a lovely book. It is an “all things considered” account of the widespread changes induced in the Indian economy by Aadhaar—a biometric means for identifying every person, as well as an “all points of view are respected” explanation of the huge controversies it has generated. Very readable and very educative.
Arun Maira, former Member, Planning Commission of India; former Chairman, Boston Consulting Group, India

Using the Lego block as a metaphor, Charles and Ramnath bring to life the evolution of Aadhaar, from being just a technology tool to a change catalyst across governments, businesses and the social sector. Clearly, much research has gone to present the potential benefits and accompanying risks. It helps readers form an informed opinion about the most important digital project of our times.
Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico

Two decades from now, India will be in a different league. Looking back then, Aadhaar will be seen as a marker of significant shifts in India’s journey towards creating accountability, governance and digital infrastructure. Whatever form Aadhaar takes, The Aadhaar Effect is an essential chronicle that documents the twists, turns, possibilities and pitfalls of the unique transformation a nation is witnessing.
Haresh Chawla, Partner, True North

Here is a critical work of research and journalism that touches on so many complex issues of the day—data, identity, privacy, consent—that will be important reading for leaders in government, technology, and business.
Jeff Jarvis, Director, Tow-Knight Center for Entrepreneurial Journalism at CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism

I was involved with Aadhaar from Nokia when we tried to build a biometric phone. I went for the early registrations in Andhra Pradesh. I saw a 60-year-old man cry when he got his Aadhaar authentication done. When I asked him why he cried, he said “I am happy that the government knows that I exist today.” This book is a fast-paced account of the Aadhaar journey.
D Shivakumar, Group Executive President - Corporate Strategy, Aditya Birla Group

A truly captivating journey of a biometric identity of more than a billion people. It is a story of human triumph and national pride comparable to climbing the Himalayas or landing a man on the moon.
Jagdish N. Sheth, Charles Kellstadt Professor of Business, Goizueta Business School, Emory University

Table of contents

Abbreviations
Acknowledgements
Preface
Prologue: The Future

1. The Hare and the Tortoise
2. The Art of War
3. The Platform Paradox
4. When a Butterfly Flaps Its Wings
5. Insurgents, Incumbents, Pioneers, and Leaders
6. The Naysayers
6.1 Who’s Afraid of Aadhaar?
A Directory of the Pain Points of the World’s Largest Identity Programme
7. India and the World


Epilogue
Index
About the Authors