Creation of a Single National ID: Challenges & Opportunities for India

A National ID for all citizens and residents of India has long being considered a critical necessity, albeit the related projects have been in pilot mode for the past several years and no distinct road ahead seems to be coming out. The government has been focusing on inclusive growth and has launched several schemes at different levels to facilitate the same. However, monitoring the execution of these schemes and understanding clearly if the targeted citizens actually have got benefited, would demand for substantial granularity of information and doing away with information bottlenecks. Interestingly, proper execution of the National ID project by the government can prove to be useful for execution of various schemes and projects as well as in accessing multiple government and private sector services. This paper focuses on the need for a single national identity system in India and its proposed execution which may actually be linked to citizen life cycle. The other aspects covered and analyzed include current Indian scenario, challenges, existing identification systems and loopholes in the existing systems. Major challenges seem to be coming from enrolments, technology platform choice and strategic design, corresponding policy and legal frameworks. The paper also discusses about international scenario of single national id projects undertaken in 27 countries across the globe to understand current status, adoption and usage. To reinforce the need for national ID, the existing IDs were analysed based on a scoring model considering various dimensions. Primary research was conducted, based on which it was found none of the existing IDs was able to satisfy as a National ID based on the scoring model. The proposed road map has been discussed in length i.e technology platform, smart card technology, legal and administrative framework, business model based on Private-Public Partnership (PPP) considering the mammoth and diverse population. A ranking matrix may be created to come up with a composite score for all districts based on various dimensions. The execution may be planned to be executed without asking Indians to stand in queue for one more ID and accelerating towards a more secured society and more importantly ensuring better delivery of Government services to citizens.

Human Rights of Disabled People in the South

[Excerpt] This paper focuses on human rights of disabled people in the South. This superficially remote topic is actually relevant to every reader. This article explains that our ignorance has led to the global disparity between rich and poor people and reinforced particularly the vulnerability of disabled people in the South. Thus the aim of this article is to bring the consciousness and ownership of the wide readers towards disability issues in the South

Disability in the Workplace in China: Situation Assessment

A compelling argument can be made that employment of people with disabilities should be gaining recognition as an underutilized weapon in the talent wars of Asia. One has only to look at the proportion of people with disabilities that make up our communities, the continuing employment disparities that people with disabilities continue to face and the resulting high levels of poverty for this population – up against the talent shortages in fast-growth markets across the region. As China’s skewed demographic dynamics become increasingly apparent, resulting in a rapidly aging population and a diminishing supply of workforce entrants, an increasing share of the workforce will include older employees with disabilities, necessitating a fundamental change in workplace practices involving people with disabilities, as well as a greater need to look at persons with disabilities as a potential source of talent. Although China has created a broad legislative framework to protect the right to work for persons with disabilities, it lacks specificity and clear measures of enforcement, as evidenced in continued employment marginalization, poor educational outcomes, and thus higher poverty levels of persons with disabilities. To further understanding of workforce inclusion of persons with disabilities in China, and to identify practical ways forward for employers, The Conference Board China Center and the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability (YTI) at Cornell University’s ILR School partnered to explore how companies can tap the talent pool of people with disabilities and improve their employment outcomes. The scope of the research encompassed a series of interviews with disability rights-focused NGOs in China, a detailed literature review, a comprehensive review of China’s regulatory framework supporting employment for persons with disabilities, and a detailed assessment of the demographics of disability and the status of people with disabilities in China such as prevalence rates, access to education, employment disparities and resulting poverty and household income rates. This report draws from the broader research findings and provides business practitioners with an overview of the current situation, challenges, and root causes of employment barriers for persons with disabilities in China. To complement this work, The China Center and YTI convened a practitioner roundtable in Beijing in September 2018. Participants explored in detail how the official, publicly available data on living and working conditions of persons with disabilities compare to actual experiences of employers in China, whether companies are actively recruiting disabled workers, what the internal and external obstacles are to recruitment, and what the impact of the government quota system is, for good or for bad. A separate report on this roundtable is also availabl

Full Package Approach to Labour Codes of Conduct

The CCC’s proposed guidelines for companies to follow to ensure that they “better assess, implement, and verify compliance with labour standards in their supply chains, and eliminate abuses where and when they arise.

Assessment on Performance of Good governance in Land Administration at Local Level: The Case of Naeder Adet Woreda, Tigiray Region, Ethiopia

The role of good governance in local development is worth mentioning. Local governments that achieved better transparency, accountability and responsiveness are likely to bring development than their counterparts. This study deals with the performance of good governance in Naeder Adet woreda of Tigiray Regional State. It assesses the performance of good governance in land administration mainly after the GTP period. Specifically, the study assessed the performance of good governance from the perspective of transparency, accountability and responsiveness. Besides, the study figured out factors that inhibit the performance of good governance in the land administration. The study was conducted by using 182 household heads that were selected via convenience sampling. Furthermore, focused group discussion, interview, secondary data was used to gather relevant data. The study finding indicates that the performance of the woreda land administration pertaining to transparency is at its infancy stage. With regard to accountability, the woreda land administration has installed both formal and informal accountability mechanisms where administrative accountability could be ensured. In spite of that, the practicability of these accountability mechanisms and tools in the land administration is in its early stage. There is the dearth of downward accountability. Furthermore, the performance of responsiveness was also found dissatisfactory. Finally, despite the agenda of good governance in the woreda seems getting a due emphasis, the overall performance was found low, which makes it difficult to conclude that there is significant change contrary to the expectation hoped to be realized after GTP period. In this regard, the prime factors that inhibit the performance of good governance in the land administration of the woreda were found, among others ,corruption, weak public education, weak monitoring and evaluation system, low implementation capacity, low participation and low coordination among stake holders, low incentives. Thus, if good land governance is to be ensured the woreda government should work on tackling the above bottlenecks by setting clear guidelines and service standards, empowering civic engagement on monitoring and evaluating service delivery process, providing adequate trainings and incentives to land committees and local councils and setting code of conduct to the land administrators. Key words: Good governance, transparency, accountability, responsiveness, land administratio