"Crooks use identity theft to claim this stuff on behalf of poor folks and sell it at higher prices in the market" may i suggest- what you 'think' as identity

"Crooks use identity theft to claim this stuff on behalf of poor folks and sell it at higher prices in the market" may i suggest- what you 'think' as identity theft is plain old black marketing after stocking up piles of 'stuff' supposed to be in hands of the poor. They don't steal the identity of the poor(or middleclass or..) They sell tons of subsidized rice/wheat and other rations at market (or above) prices (to the people whom it was actually subsidized for!). So identity theft, not!. "The hope is that these IDs will replace all forms of identification and store information that will let all these departments use the same card." Nandan Nilekani and the hype of id-cards. What happened to the election card? wasn't that supposed to be "the" card to identify anyone/everyone. Then everyone finds out - if you are registered in one state, you are an alien if you move to another state. So phase it out and bring the pan card. Wasn't the pan card supposed in a similar us ssn -unique to everyone? These experiments have failed, so now to the next experiment with hi-tech. So now everyone carries 3-4 identity cards (along with a new card with the new added biometric - 'wow' factor and nice smart chip) I am not being a pessimist, just realist. It's nice to have this smart card, but implementation and success(as in operability) is questionable. If it works kudos to Nilekani. having said this, I am curious to know of 'smart cards' implementation in large countries/population. I have seen these smart cards (possess one) in very small countries (singapore,hong kong....).