Sri Lanka ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’

February 9, 2022

India has agreed to provide a grant to Sri Lanka for implementing a ‘Unitary Digital Identity framework’.

Key Points

The Unitary Digital Identity Framework is apparently modelled on the Aadhaar card.
Sri Lankan government will give priority to the implementation of this Framework as a national level programme.
Sri Lanka’s Cabinet of Ministers approved this proposal made by President Rajapaksa, to sign a Memorandum of Understanding with India to obtain the grant and launch this project.
This project comes amid substantive economic assistance from India, worth USD 1.4 billion to Sri Lanka, since the start of 2022 to help Sri Lanka cope with its dollar crunch, and import food, medicines and fuel due to shortages.

About Unitary Digital Identity Framework

Under the Unitary Digital Identity Framework, a personal identity verification device will be introduced, based on biometric data, which is a digital tool to represent identities of individuals in cyberspace. Identification of individual identities can be accurately verified in physical and digital environments by combining two devices.

Background

The initiative will be launched following bilateral talks between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in December 2019.

What is the value of grant?

Though India has confirmed support to Sri Lanka for transitioning to a digital identity system, but there is no information yet on the value of this grant.

Is this the first attempt by Sri Lanka to digitise identities of citizens?

This is not the first time that Sri Lanka is trying to digitise identities of citizens. During 2015-2019, President Maithripala Sirisena-Ranil Wickremesinghe administration launched a similar Electronic-National Identity Card (E-NIC). However, this card was opposed citing that the state would have full access to personal data of citizens in a central database. Former Mahinda Rajapaksa government tried to initiate this project in 2011, but it could not be implemented.

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