30th March 2023
Editorials
Context:
- India, through India Stack, became the first country to develop all three foundational DPIs: digital identity (Aadhaar), real-time fast payment (UPI and a platform to safely share personal data without compromising privacy (Account Aggregator built on the Data Empowerment Protection Architecture or DEPA) (Roy, 2020).
What is DPI?
- First, foundational DPIs mediate the flow of people, money and information. The flow of people through a digital ID System.
- Second, the flow of money through a real-time fast payment system.
- Third, the flow of personal information through a consent-based data sharing system to actualize the benefits of DPIs and to empower the citizen with a real ability to control data.
Foundations of the India Stack:
- Identity Layer (Using identity as a utility; an enabler)-This allows one to authenticate oneself from any location as it serves as both a tool for identification and a facilitator of authentication, controlled by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
- Paperless Layer (Store & Retrieve Data digitally)- Managed by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY), offers a paperless ecosystem that stores information and documentation digitally, verifies them, and authenticates them anytime and on any device.
- Payments Layer (Increasing transparency and ease) - It seeks to transition everything in the digital era, making payments and financial transactions cashless in order to enable transparency and usability.