2. Citizen Database

This is linked to everything else, and a pre-requisite for everything else.

Currently, Identity and address of a person is difficult to establish and prove. This hampers distribution of welfare at the lowest levels, and access to credit at at the middle class levels.

We can spend more of education and social welfare without raising taxes only if we can reduce the wasteful expenditure on administration.

We can only reduce expense on administration if we can computerize it to a workflow based system. (See Administrative reforms)

And that, could only be achieved if we have some common way to identify a person electronically.

There needs to be a common ID which becomes the common citizen ID in India. (Yes, we do have voter ID, but not everyone votes; we do have PAN Card, but not everyone is a Tax Payer; We do have a passport ID, but not everyone is a passport holder)

This common ID can then be used to simplify the Judicial and Adminstrative tasks enormously.

(Added Aug 2009) I am very happy to note that Nandan Nilekani is now heading a Unique ID project for India, hope he reforms the way the babus in India treat the "natives".