IN A small village north-west of Bangalore, peasants queue for identities. Each man fills in a form with his name and rough date of birth, or gets someone who can read to do it for him. He places his fingertips on one scanner and stares at another. A photograph of his face is snapped. These images are uploaded to a computer. Within a few weeks he will have an identity...

If the Unique Identity project is such a good thing why is the man heading it unable to answer simple questions about it? Since the publication of his doorstopper of a book Imagining India in 2009, Nandan Nilekani has done a superb job of reinventing himself. The former head of software giant Infosys Technologies was overnight cast in the role of a visionary with his unabashedly free market prescription to turn...

C.Chandramouli, registrar general and census commissoner of India, is on the threshold of one of the most challenging months of his career. As the head of an army of 2.7 million enumerators who will fan out for almost a month beginning 9 February, Chandramouli talked to Mint about the methods and controversies of the second phase of India’s 15th census exercise. Edited excerpts: The National Population Register (NPR) seems to be...

Nandan Nilekani-led Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) on Friday submitted its report to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee suggesting systematic change in the way key projects are incubated and executed. The report has mooted the idea of a "mission leader" for every project and a dedicated mission execution team. "Strong support from the top leadership within government, dedicated team at the level of project implementation and ownership and commitment at various...

The public interest outweighs private interest and even assuming that there are some so-called private conversations in the Niira Radia tapes, their publication could not be challenged, Outlook magazine told the Supreme Court on Wednesday. In its response to the notice on industrialist Ratan Tata's petition questioning the publication of the tapes on the ground that his right to Privacy had been violated, the magazine said: “There are no conversations that...