Analysis of Aadhaar: A Project Management Perspective

Abstract

Increasing Indian population, migration from neighbouring countries as well as numerous variants of identity cards like ration card, voter ID card forced Government of India to form ‘Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)’. The primary responsibility of the UIDAI is to issue Unique Identification Number (UID) or Aadhaar number to Indian residents which can be used for all the government transactions/benefits schemes like gas subsidy, Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Gurantee Act (MGNREGA). This study conducts a systematic review of the materials/articles available through secondary sources such as newspapers, research papers and government reports on Aadhaar project. This has been categorized as a developmental project in the study due to high uncertainty associated with it in various dimensions. An attempt has been made through this study to understand the planning and implementation stage of Aadhaar Project till 2014. The study also attempts to identify potential risks (diamond framework has been used to provide interesting insights) and suggest a contingency plan for this and similar government projects in future, to ensure a better success rate. This study identifies various gaps and recommends a plan of action as well as appropriate process changes to enhance project success of Aadhaar Project in future. Based on the insights from this study a model to enhance the success rate of similar projects has also been proposed.