Philippines and Morocco start the adoption of Aadhaar architecture

Philippines and Morocco have become the first two countries to start adopting the open-source technology architecture of Aadhaar to build similar unique identifier systems for their citizens, a senior official confirmed on Wednesday.

Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP) working at the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIIT-B) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) are supporting the implementation. With the necessary technology stack, the countries are developing independent platforms for improving ease of living and providing legal identity to citizens.

“Global outreach and helping other countries is one of the five pillars of Aadhaar 2.0. We already have eight to ten countries from different parts of Asia and Africa reaching out to understand what Aadhaar is and how they could potentially use the Aadhaar architecture,” the official said on the condition of anonymity. 

He added that Togo, Kenya, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, and Singapore are some of the countries that have shown interest to adapt similar unique identity platforms. Brazil, Egypt, and Mexico are also conducting discussions with the Indian government to understand the architecture of the Aadhaar.

This comes as a significant development in the government’s efforts to promote India’s public digital infrastructure at the G20 summit. As reported earlier, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY) has also launched G20 Digital Innovation Alliance (DIA) to focus on priorities like digital public infrastructure (DPI), cyber security, and digital skill development.

The government is offering other countries the India stack, which comprises a host of open-source software application programming interfaces (APIs) of government-backed services such as Aadhaar, unified payment interface (UPI), eSign, DigiLocker, etc. The open-source model has created a plethora of computer languages, architecture, APIs, libraries or lexicons, user interfaces, and the apps themselves.

As per official data, UIDAI currently records seven to eight crore Aadhaar authentications every day. Aadhaar authentication is the process where the Aadhaar number along with the Aadhaar holder’s identity data such as biometric or demographic information is submitted to UIDAI for matching. Following this, the UIDAI verifies if the number matches the Aadhaar holder’s information.

The official said there was a growing global interest in Aadhaar’s architecture as countries attempt to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, which gives a target to ensure that all people will be able to obtain a “legal identity” by 2030.

Since the issuance of the first Aadhaar number in September 2010, more than 133 crore Aadhaar cards have been issued till June 2022. Though the actual number of Aadhaar number holders could be lesser due to deaths, the Aadhaar enrolment of adult residents in India is nearing 100 per cent. Therefore, the government has planned a framework for the next chapter of UIDAI. Continued simplicity for residents, increasing usage, improving credibility and technology, and outreach outside the country are the key focus areas going forward, Business Standard has learnt.