India's Biometric ID System Has Led To Starvation For Some Poor, Advocates Say
NPRIndia's Biometric ID System Has Led To Starvation For Some Poor, Advocates Say Enlarge this image toggle caption Lauren Frayer/NPR Lauren Frayer/NPR India has 1.3 billion people, and no equivalent of the Social Security number. Sponsor Message The government says this system, called Aadhaar — "foundation" in Hindi — has helped to distribute welfare to the country's neediest; streamline the civil service; purge hundreds of thousands of names from voter rolls; and allow for people to move between states without losing benefits. Enlarge this image toggle caption Furkan Latif Khan/NPR Furkan Latif Khan/NPR At this ration shop, Ashok Kumar, 57, scans people's fingerprints with something that looks like a credit card machine. Aadhaar's architect "Nobody should be denied benefits — either for lack of Aadhaar, or for lack of authentication," says Nandan Nilekani, the key architect of the nation's Aadhaar system.