Open Source India: The Aadhaar Project
January 6, 2012
The EFY Times recently reported on a new identification number that will serve as proof of identity for Indian residents in the article “Aadhaar: The Greatest Testimony To Foss’ Success in India.”
According to the article, the Aadhaar project is a 12-digit individual identification number issued in behalf of the Indian Government by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Each number is unique, will remain valid for life, and serves as a proof of identity and address anywhere in India.
In addition to being the largest attempt at e-governance of its kind, this project is also unique because the FOSS technology team has indicated a preference towards open standards and open-source.
Regunath Balasubramanian, principal architect of the UIDAI project, explains why open source software (OSS) became the first choice for the project:
The primary technical requirements of the project were of scale and vendor neutrality at all levels. FOSS helped us achieve vendor-neutrality in many of our application components, which is very important for an initiative of national importance. The use of open standards has encouraged multi-vendor participation. This has driven costs down and improved the quality.
It is exciting to see the government of India utilizing open source technology to help address the issues facing its people. Open source in 2012 seems poised to be increasingly disruptive in a large market which existing US and European vendors have to find a way to penetrate. Challenge ahead.
Jasmine Ashton, January 6, 2012
Sponsored by Pandia.com
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