Nandan Nilekani Calls For A Portable Network Of Government Services
The whole country needs to be a single market point for delivery of services with a portable infrastructure, he says.
The architect of India’s universal identification system has called for building a portable network of government services.
Nandan Nilekani said “internal globalisation” can help fill the gaps and disconnect in government services, which must be universalised.
The whole country needs to be a single market point for delivery of services with a portable infrastructure, he told BloombergQuint’s Sanjay Pugalia in an interview. “Portability has two aspects to it, wherever you’re in the country, you should get that service,” he said. “When there are multiple providers of a service, you should be able to go to any of them for the service, so there’s portability and a choice too.”
Nilekani said this will ensure quality of service and empower people with choice. India’s Aadhaar system, mobile service providers and bank accounts allow portability and we need to do this for all services and the public distribution system—an important safety net for millions of people, he said.
Millions of migrant workers decided to head back home following the Covid-19 outbreak and a subsequent national lockdown that left them penniless and without food. Apart from leaving them with no access to basic amenities or means to travel back home, the lockdown also exposed the gaps in the country’s public distribution system.
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has already announced a ‘One Nation, One Ration Card’ system that will allow migrants to procure foodgrains from anywhere across the country. Ration card holders at present can only access supplies at a certain assigned shop.
In a country where migration is very high, every service should be nationally portable, Nilekani said. He said external globalisation has slowed since countries are erecting barriers to protect their economies, putting the brakes on global trade.
India has over 1.3 billion people and reforms like the goods and services tax, and a FASTag toll collection system will create a single point access in the country. We need to use our scale to create ‘internal globalisation’ so that people can live, buy and sell anywhere, he said. “That’s the way to create economic growth inside the country.”
Watch the full interview here: