Despite the comparisons, India's Aadhaar project is nothing like America's Social Security Number

Billionaire software entrepreneur Nandan Nilekani, who is the founder chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India, while explaining the differences between Aadhaar and the Social Security Number, said Aadhaar had been designed “as an open platform on which you can build applications”. Further, when the Unique Identification Authority of India authenticates the identity of individuals against the Aadhaar database, it generates millions of authentication logs every day, containing the request received, the response, and the metadata related to the transaction. The nine-digit number, which is used widely by government agencies in the US, is seemingly as ubiquitous as Aadhaar. It is often used as an example of an advance economy successfully doing something similar to India’s unique identity project.

There was widespread press coverage that looked at the implications for the present and future by creating such databases (see Figure 8). One of the key concerns around Aadhaar is that the government has “seeded”, or introduced the number in multiple databases, which makes it easier for government agencies to converge personal information of individuals across databases. It is the basic human right and its fulfilment will contribute to achieving various developmental goals of nation. Social Security measures have far reaching benefits what is ssn number in india in the form of improving and bringing sense of pride and self respect amongst the citizens. Such measures also help in providing the minimal level of providing protection against health and life hazards in work situations.

Annual Income

Pradhan Mantri Matri Vandana Yojana is a maternity benefit programme run by the government of India for low-income households. It was introduced in 2017 and is implemented by the Ministry of Women and Child Development. It is a conditional cash transfer scheme for pregnant and lactating women of 19 years of age or above for the first live birth.44 It provides a partial wage compensation to women for wage-loss during childbirth and childcare and to provide conditions for safe delivery and good nutrition and feeding practices. India’s unique identification project is the world’s largest biometrics-based identity project.

The challenge of closing the coverage gap in social security provisions has to be developed at two levels. The first level involves the re-engineering of the institutional arrangements to increase efficiency. The second level is to create an appropriate legislative and administrative framework for significant increase in the social security coverage especially in the unorganized sector. At the end of every quarter, employers send the government income taxes that they withhold from their employees along with the name and SSN.

Employers are required by law to verify that the people they are hiring have valid SSNs. States are incentivized to enroll their people because they get to collect more information than the basic four fields (name, birthdate, gender, and address) required by the UIDAI “Know Your Resident” rules. Different states have added additional fields, such as marital status, house status551, occupation, and VoterID number.552 This data was intended to be reserved for the state and is known as “Know Your Resident Plus” KYR+ data. Democracies benefit from diverse input into the design of identity systems and a broad consensus about their operation, transparency, and accountability to the citizens whose information is managed by these systems.

Use by public and private entities

It is the most important social security body that covers most employees in India and accords them with social protection and is governed by The Code on Social Security, 2020. It is mandatory for every private and self-employee (civil servants are covered by the Civil Servant’s Pension System) under The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952. For all employees earning ₹21,000 (US$250) or less per month as wages, the employer contributes 3.25% and the employee contributes 0.75%, total share 4%. ESI scheme is a type of social security scheme for employees in the organised sector. The employees registered under the insurance are entitled to medical treatment for themselves and their dependents, unemployment benefit, sick pay and maternity benefit in case of women employees.

Government of India

In keeping with its cultural traditions, family members and relatives have always discharged a sense of shared responsibility towards one another. To the extent that the family has resources to draw upon, this is often the best relief for the special needs and care required by the aged and those in poor health. As a worker/employee, you are a source of Social Security protection for yourself and your family. As an employer you are responsible for providing adequate social security coverage to all your workers. Businesses use one of these agencies to check against the database with the consent of the person whose information is being checked. These are sent to the government, checked against the SSN Master File, and a Yes/No indicator is sent back to the business.

Accident Assurance Scheme

According to The Code on Social Security, 2020, all women employees are entitled to 26 weeks of fully paid maternity leaves. This benefit could be availed by women for a period extending up to a maximum of 8 weeks before the expected delivery date and the remaining time can be availed after childbirth. For women who are having 2 or more surviving children, the duration of paid maternity leave shall be 12 weeks (i.e. 6 weeks before and 6 weeks after expected date of delivery). Maternity leave of 12 weeks to be available to mothers adopting a child below the age of three months from the date of adoption as well as to the “commissioning mothers” (defined as a biological mother who uses her egg to create an embryo planted in any other woman). Medical services are provided through a large infrastructure comprising Hospitals, Dispensaries, annexes, Specialist centres, Model Dispensaries- cum- Diagnostic centres (MDDC), IMP clinics and arrangements with other health institutions.

Millions of Aadhaar numbers have been linked to the bank records, ration lists, educational records, and telecom documents of individuals. New analytical data techniques mean this “big data” could reveal much more about a person than standalone data could in the past. We invite researchers, practitioners, artists, and theoreticians, both organisationally and as individuals, to engage with us on topics related internet and society, and improve our collective understanding of this field. To discuss such possibilities, please write to us at communicationsatcis-indiadotorg with an indication of the form and the content of the collaboration you might be interested in. Recently, the bar of income has been withdrawn by the State Government, thus every girl can apply for this scheme.

Why Do We Need Social Security

In August 2017, Supreme Court’s nine-judge bench unanimously ruled that privacy is a fundamental right because it is intrinsic to the right to life.
These are sent to the government, checked against the SSN Master File, and a Yes/No indicator is sent back to the business.
For all employees earning ₹21,000 (US$250) or less per month as wages, the employer contributes 3.25% and the employee contributes 0.75%, total share 4%.
In 1976, the Tax Reform Act expanded the use of the SNN outside of Federal Agencies, by authorizing the direct use of the SSN in state and local government programs.577 In 1977, Personal Privacy in an Information Society by the Privacy Protection Study Commission578 was delivered to President Carter.
Individuals getting a driver’s license must proactively choose to be enrolled in this second and very different system.
It is mandatory for every private and self-employee (civil servants are covered by the Civil Servant’s Pension System) under The Employees’ Provident Funds and Miscellaneous Provisions Act, 1952.

The creators of the Aadhaar system chose to expand the features of the system without public input and feedback, and because they are their own regulator. Employers who want to check if an SSN is valid for the purposes of tax withholding can register with the Social Security Number Verification System (SSNVS) to do so. Employers do this is to ensure that the taxes they are withholding from their employees actually lines up with records at the Social Security Administration. Many of you, who arrive in US as international wonder about Social Security Number and What does it stand for.

As such the current publicly managed system in India is more or less entirely anchored by the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation. It may be noted that in the last 50 years, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation has been in existence, there has been no instance of any scam or a situation where the Fund has been exposed to speculation and risk. Another important contribution of EPF is now proposed to extend to the critical life benefit of providing shelter. The Shramik Awas Yojana aims at providing a cost effective Housing Scheme specific for EPF numbers. This involves cooperation between organizations such as HUDCO, Housing Agencies, State Governments, Employers and EPF Members with the EPFO playing the role of facilitator. The investments are directed into the prescribed securities and portfolios as per the pattern laid down by the Finance Ministry.

The important differences center on how numbers serve as part of an overall identity system in both the public and private sector. This paper walks through the specifics of these differences comparing the U.S. and Indian systems throughout. Over the past 10 years, India has rolled out an identity system based on the collection of biometrics and simple demographic information from all of its residents.

In general, we offer financial support for collaborative/invited works only through public calls.
In a foreword to a Credit-Suisse report, he noted that the use of Aadhaar by the financial sector could open up a $600 billion business opportunity.
They can enable the constructive engagement of citizens with their government, but can be used by the state in ways that cause great harm.
This debate has thrown up various arguments on the efficacy of publicly managed social security schemes as opposed to privately managed schemes.

Social Security is increasingly viewed as an integral part of the development process. It helps to create a more positive attitude to the challenge of globalization and the consequent structural and technological changes. Unlike UIDAI, when the U.S. government changes any technology at the core of its operations, it moves with a deliberate and careful approach bound by the legal and regulatory framework of the government, particularly when working with the sensitive personal information of its residents. For decades, there have been extensive on-the-record hearings by various legislative committees and presidential commissions addressing government systems for registering citizens and collecting and using data about them. Hearings of this type are, by default, not public in the Indian parliamentary system. The Aadhaar number is a powerful tool in India’s move towards digital identification, financial inclusion, and efficient service delivery.