AADHAAR - Communicating to a Billion' to Mr. Nadan Nilekani, Chairman UIDAI and Mr. Ram Sevak Sharma, D.G., UIDAI

MUMBAI: The ACSAC appointed in February, 2010 to formulate an awareness and communication strategy for the UIDAI presented its report ?AADHAAR ? Communicating to a Billion? to Mr. Nadan Nilekani, Chairman UIDAI and Mr. Ram Sevak Sharma, D.G., UIDAI.

Mr. Nilekani, Chairman, thanked the committee for the comprehensive report, stressing the point that this is the beginning of the journey and a lot of work will need to be done in the future to effectively communicate AADHAAR - ?AADHAAR is truly revolutionary as it confers mobility to the holder?. He also reiterated the UIDAI?s guarantee of enabling universal recognition of identification.

Mr. RS Sharma, Director General, commended the committee for delivering their report within the 90 days deadline and talked about the need to ensure that there are no misleading promises or rumours are not spread at a local level. ?For the weaker sections of society, the value of identity is very strong and a means to prove one?s identity will be an invaluable service.?

Mr. Nirmal Sinha, Deputy Director General, spoke about the need for the communication to be very visual in nature. ?Our communication has to be visual and simple, to help cut across the literate and illetrate sections of the society.?

Mr. Kiran Khalap, the chairman of the ACSAC, spoke about the need to route communications through the right channels and not relying too heavily on conventional media, especially in a county like India with a rich oral tradition. He added that interpersonal communication and the ?Word of Mouth? are strong means of communicating information. ACSAC member Mr. DK Bose said that Satellite television has brought huge behavioural changes and there has been a shift in how people receive and process information.