India plans ID cards for its 1.1bn citizens...

India’s government has launched one of the biggest bureaucratic exercises in the country’s history – the issue of a single identity card for each of its 1.1bn citizens.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the planning commission, said the scheme was part of the government’s “inclusive growth” programme aimed at penetrating India’s notorious red tape to deliver social services more directly to citizens, particularly those on the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

“Clearly such a platform, once it’s established, would be useful in a variety of ways for all kinds of agencies that deal with the public, for example, tax identification, drivers’ licences, beneficiaries of public services and beneficiaries of below-the-poverty-line services,” Mr Singh told the FT. More...

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