UDID in India: Streamlining Identity and Access for Persons with Disabilities

UDID stands for Unique Disability ID. It is considered to be an initiative by the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD). It was developed to create a national database of persons with disabilities and issue them a unique identification card. This card serves the function of a single, universal ID for persons with disabilities across India, streamlining access to various government benefits and schemes. It is also considered essential for reaching out to the right person in need at the right time. It also allows granting facilities to those mostly deserving without any middleman interference.

The importance of UDID for persons with disabilities in India includes:

Simplification of Identification and Certification

UDID card is a universally recognised certificate of identity for individuals with disabilities (PwDs) in place of the earlier scheme of several and often redundant disability certificates. Before the UDID project, various countries or organisations needed to be visited by an individual to acquire multiple disability certificates, resulting in delays and inconsistencies. With the UDID system, the process of certification is standardised across India, such that the government departments and the states acknowledge every individual’s disability consistently.

Facilitating Access to Government Schemes and Benefits

One of the biggest advantages of a UDID is that it makes central and state government welfare schemes, subsidies, and entitlements easier to access. These are education scholarships, concession on travel, aids and appliances, reservation of employment, income tax relief, and financial assistance. As it electronically connects to an individual’s disability history, it eliminates the need for repeated documentation and simplifies access to benefits. It can also curb leakages, and the correct individual can receive the benefit.

Enhancing Transparency and Accountability

The UDID program fosters greater transparency in service delivery. It enables governments to have a central database of disabled individuals, and they are able to track the implementation of the program and pinpoint areas where gaps in the delivery of services might occur. The system ensures duplication of benefits is kept to reduced amounts, and it guarantees effective delivery of support and assistance to beneficiaries.

Enabling Planning and Policy Formulation

The UDID database offers key information for program planning and policymaking at the national and state levels. Governments can make decisions based on real-time, disaggregated information on the nature and degree of disabilities by regions to make informed decisions on infrastructure development, education, health care, and employment programs for PwDs. It also enables the formulation of more holistic and nuanced policies as per the rights-based approach promoted by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016.

Empowering People with Dignity and Autonomy

Having a UDID card gives one with a disability an identity and power. It is the official authentication of his condition and rights, and it plays the key role in exercising his rights and availing of services without stigma or discrimination. The UDID web portal also allows one to apply online, monitor, and keep their disability certificates updated, giving them more liberty and less reliance on intermediaries.

Portability and All-India Validity

The strongest benefit of the UDID is its portability throughout the nation. Irrespective of whether a person is shifting for education, employment, or care, the UDID does not lose its worth between states and establishments across India. The state-to-state acceptance becomes more applicable in a diverse mobile population as it allows PwDs to receive benefit continuity without re-evaluation and re-certification.

The UDID’s role in facilitating Identity and Access for persons with disabilities in India includes:

Evolution of a Unifying Identity for People with Disabilities

The Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), along with the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, the Unique Disability ID (UDID), aim at enhancing homogeneity in the identity of people with disabilities in India. The UDID card can replace several documents in the form of a single digital identity, which is acceptable overall India. This identity includes the personal information, percentage and type of disability, and other such crucial information, thereby eradicating bureaucratic inefficiency and standardisation in paperwork. Seth et al. (2020) study concludes that standardised identity systems have the effect of improving service delivery, exclusion reduction, and empowerment of marginal groups.

Facilitating Improved Access to Government Schemes and Benefits

One of the primary functions of the UDID is to make central and state government welfare, subsidy, and entitlement schemes accessible with ease. The platform automatically identifies people with disabilities and assigns them to the respective schemes, such as scholarships, employment allowances, medical allowance, and concessions on travel. The National Institute for Empowerment of Persons with Multiple Disabilities (NIEPMD, 2021) finds that UDID makes easy verification of eligibility and does away with corruption or misappropriation as an exclusive sole single source of truth.

Enabling Digital Inclusion and E-Governance

With digital governance underway in India, the UDID is a prime enabler in filling the digital divide for PwDs. It enables online application for services, status tracking, and grievance redressal, thereby contributing to digital participation. Through interoperability with Aadhaar (voluntarily) and DigiLocker, UDID unifies the ecosystem of digital identities. Digital IDs, according to Das & Pattnaik (2022), can enable higher-level autonomy through enabling individuals with disabilities to make online payments securely and independently.

Enabling Data-Driven Policy and Planning

UDID database, which stores population with disabilities data in one database, enables policymakers to have access to disaggregated, reliable data for planning and budgeting purposes. It enables disability prevalence tracking, geographic distribution, and trend over time. It is an evidence base for policy development on disability and SDG tracking under disability. A NITI Aayog report (2019) identifies that high-quality disability data are critical to inclusive development and that UDID enables filling data gaps.

Facilitating Portability of Disability Identity Between States

Before the UDID scheme, PwDs were not able to easily access services upon shifting from one state to another since the state-level disability certificates weren’t portable across states. UDID, as an India-wide digital card, does away with this limitation. A disabled person in a state may employ the UDID to utilise one in another, which provides mobility and inclusion. Kumar & Ranjan (2021) further contribute that mobility is central to migrant and urban poor disabled groups, so easily excluded when service delivery takes place at local levels.

Strengthening Rights-Based Empowerment and Legal Acceptance

Legal recognition of disability under the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016, is the starting point of accessibility to rights. UDID institutionalises this kind of recognition and makes it possible to provide persons with disabilities with the right to education, employment, the right to vote, and legal protection without the undesired administrative hassle. Documents of identity like the UDID are a crucial step towards making equality before the law realisable and empowering civic engagement, UNICEF India (2020) finds.

Conclusion

The UDID is a pioneer for mainstream individuals with disabilities in India’s social, economic, and digital mainstream. By providing one identity, easy service access, and inclusive administration, it is a fulcrum for the vision of “Accessible India.” But concerted effort has to be ensured to increase coverage, generate awareness, and make the process of UDID registration available to rural and very disabled communities.

FAQs

1. When did UDID develop in India?

The UDID was developed or launched in 2016 in India. Its aim at the time of creation was to create a national database inclusive of details of all persons with disabilities and also provide them with a Unique Disability Identity Card.

2. What was the underlying purpose of the development of UDID in India?

The primary purpose of the UDID launch was to generate a uniform and unique identification card for persons with disabilities and to create a centralised database of persons with disabilities.

3. Who were the pioneers in the development of UDID?

The UDID was born as a collaborative effort and teamwork of the Department of Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities (DEPwD), under the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, which took the initiative for the Unique Disability ID Project.

4. What categories are covered under UDID?

The Unique Disability ID (UDID) project covers 21 types of disabilities as defined by the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016. These are inclusive of conditions such as low vision, leprosy, blindness, Autism Spectrum Disorder, Cerebral Palsy to multiple disabilities including deaf- blindness.