India
Prior to 2010, the landscape of identification in India was fragmented. Forms of identification that are more widely accepted as proof of identity, including passports and Permanent Account Number (PAN) cards, were held only by a relatively small number of individuals. In 2009, the Indian Government created the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The UIDAI was mandated with the task of providing a unique and non-duplicable proof of identity to every resident of India. This proof of identity took the form of a unique identification number (UID), or Aadhaar, that is linked to an individual’s iris scans and fingerprints, as well as basic demographic data. Based on the projected population for 2015, 89.6 percent of India’s population was enrolled.
RESEARCHERS
Cheryl Young
Cheryl Young is a resident physician in the Public Health and Preventative Medicine program at the University of British Columbia. While working with Reach, she was a medical student at the University of Toronto, particularly interested in social determinants of health such as income and education. She also holds a BSHc from McMaster University, where she specialized in Global Health.
Carol Drumm
Carol Drumm was part of the India research team at the Reach Project. Carol completed her Hon B.A. in Ethics, Society & Law, Political Science and Urban Studies at the University of Toronto in 2017. She is now completing her J.D. at the University of Ottawa. Carol is passionate about urban planning and learning how the law can be used to address urban problems.
Shruti Sardesai
Shruti Sardesai is currently Junior Programme Assistant at the Pearl Initiative in the United Arab Emirates. She graduated as a Master of Global Affairs from the University of Toronto in 2017, and with a BA International Studies from the American University of Sharjah in 2015. Her interests include global humanitarian aid, gender activism, and development policy. Shruti was part of the Reach team that studied the implementation and effects of Aadhar across India in 2017.
Nikhil Pandey
Nikhil Pandey was a part of the Reach Project in 2016-2017, and currently serves as an alumni ambassador. Alongside his team, Nikhil travelled to India to study the Indian government's Aadhaar program. There, they researched the creation of universal identities for over one billion residents. Nikhil is now completing his Juris Doctor degree from the University of British Columbia in Vancouver. He hopes to get involved with regulatory work after completing law school.
