I read your article and it provides insight into the issues surrounding the process of identification. Like you correctly pointed out, too many id's need to be carried, unlike the US, where a single Social security number is valid. At the same time one needs to be cognizant of the fact the Social security number was a number designed only for tax purposes and was eventually used for all kinds of purposes. This has resulted in its misuse. You cant live without it at the same time making it very difficult to protect your number resulting in the increase of ID theft cases.
We should take the best of both the worlds. One solution would be to have a unique TAX ID like the PAN and one more id for all other purposes. This helps reduce the number of ID cards as well as help reduce the theft/misuse of these ID's.
