Home Minister Amit Shah on Monday proposed the idea of having a single multipurpose ID card for all utilities such as Aadhaar, driving licence, voter card, bank accounts among others. He also said that the unified ID could be used for future initiatives such as the 2021 census collection.

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This is not the first time that such an idea has been proposed. In 2001, the then BJP-led government under Prime Minister AB Vajpayee mooted the idea of a National Register of Indian Citizens and issue of Multi-purpose National Identity Cards (MNICs) based on this register.

What was MNIC?

Multipurpose National Identity Card (MPNIC) was presented by the Group of Ministers (GOM) in a report on ‘Reforming National Security System.’ The GOM that presented the report included LK Advani, George Fernandes Jaswant Singh and Yashwant Sinha. The report, in response to the Kargil war and the growing threat of illegal immigration, identified the need for providing citizens, especially in the border area to differentiate them with immigrants.

Is there any global precedence for such a scheme?

The Philippines in 2010 introduced the Unified Multi-Purpose ID (UMID). The scheme saw the development of a single card for all links connecting the individual with several schemes and agencies of the government. While the system is being slowly replaced by Philippine Identification System ID (PhilSys ID), it is used for various purposes such as voter ID.

Why there's a push for such a plan now?

According to media reports, there's an increased focus on setting up of a National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) by next year, which will be used by government agencies including Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research & Analysis Wing (RAW) and Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to efficiently collect and track data.

Challenges to the scheme

Concerns have already been raised about data privacy and security across the globe. India, which witnessed stiff challenges against the Aadhaar linkage scheme, is likely to witness similar protests, particularly in border regions, were NCR scheme has already caused unrest.