In what is implicit acceptance of exclusion errors, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has begun face recognition for Aadhaar authentication. UIDAI circulars since January harp on the need to make Aadhaar authentication “more inclusive” by performing facial recognition in addition to fingerprint/iris scans. In April, UIDAI told Supreme Court that authentication failure rates were 6% for fingerprint scan and 8.54% for iris scans. In July 2018, there were 71 crore fingerprint and 1.6 crore iris authentications indicating a whopping 4 crore fingerprint authentication failures last month.

These failures could have happened to people accessing rations or purchasing new SIM cards. Aadhaar was initially pitched as an efficient way of delivering welfare. But now, like Leviathan, it is extending its empire everywhere. Limiting Aadhaar to welfare and fixing the glitches must precede overreach. The trust quotient with Aadhaar is falling. Earlier, we were told fingerprints are almost foolproof but then iris scanners were introduced. Goalposts keep changing all the time. Or is it Aadhaar that is floundering?

While UIDAI submitted to SC a proof of concept study that showed Aadhaar authentication rose from 83% to 99% among elderly when face recognition supplemented fingerprints, experience in other countries is mixed. UIDAI doesn’t rule out malfeasance by agents, which raises worries about identity theft. The reality is that there is no perfect magic key that will solve the authentication problem, do away with inclusion and exclusion errors, and be proof against theft, hacking, malfeasance, breach of privacy and criminal misuse, on top of India’s poor internet connectivity. We must beware of a techno-nationalism that privileges technology over how human beings live and work. The solution is to limit usages of Aadhaar, and have other backup systems to establish identity.