The challenge
Many Indians lacked official ID, and welfare suffered from fraud and duplicate claims.
The case
Launched in 2009, Aadhaar gave residents a 12-digit ID linked to fingerprints and iris scans, and enrolled over 1.3 billion people. It made it easier to open bank accounts and send benefits directly, and the government reported large savings from removing duplicate and fake beneficiaries. But a large randomized study of stricter biometric checks for welfare payments in India found that while they reduced some fraud, between 1.5 and 2 million legitimate beneficiaries lost access to benefits at some point. In 2018 India's Supreme Court limited its mandatory use.
Why the results were mixed
Digital ID can cut paperwork and fraud, but making it a hard requirement for essential benefits shifts the cost of errors onto the poorest people. Fallback options are essential.
Sources
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