India in a move towards a Cashless Society has set in motion a Biometric ID program using a Unique or Universal Identification (UID) number for its entire 1.2 billion citizens.

The stated reason offered for such a program is the need for a greater ability to accurately distribute social welfare benefits as well as curtailing identity theft and welfare fraud.

Each of the UID numbers will be linked to the biometric data of the one receiving it. There will be three types of identification, fingerprints (all ten of them), iris scan (both eyes), and pictures of the face (yes, more than one).

Steve Perry, executive vice president of Visa Europe, argues that cash is expensive – a cost on society – and should be replaced by a cashless society.

“There are many more efficient ways of making payments than by paper in the 21st century, and the time is ripe for the economy as a whole to reap the benefits of its replacement,” comments Paul Smee, chief executive of the Payments Council.

Reaction to the program usually ranges from apathy or ignorance to a foreshadowing of a dangerous trend that is coming to each sovereign country in their turn.

It is likely that the UID will end up much like the Social Security Number that was originally created in 1935 as part of the New Deal, for the sole purpose of tracking the earnings histories of U.S. workers, for use in determining Social Security benefit entitlement and computing benefit levels and definitely not to be used for identification.

Since then, use of the SSN has expanded greatly. Today the SSN may be the most commonly used numbering system in the United States. The SSN’s very universality has led to its adoption throughout government and the private sector as a chief means of identifying and gathering information about an individual.

Already in India, major banks, state/local governments, and other institutions are planning to use the UID for identification as well as payment and accessibility, and government “officials” have already stated that the database will be used by intelligence agencies for the purpose of monitoring “bank transactions, cell phone purchases and the movements of individuals and groups suspected of fomenting terrorism.”

For the time being, participation in the Indian UID program is optional, but once the program is fully implemented governments and businesses will begin to transition out of the older methods of payment and identification and focus more on the new technology. Identification using the traditional methods will remain as an option, but will be viewed as burdensome. Eventually, the old ways are phased out and orders will take the place of what was once an individual choice.

This new massive data-extraction endeavor by the Indian government harmonizes with a growing trend in the Western world – to develop an electronic surveillance grid able to track, trace, and record every single movement and communication of every single citizen within a nations borders as well as establishing a cashless society.