In 2008, Mishro Devi, 69, was the first Indian to own a smart card issued by the Union government, providing proof of her national identity. She says though she never used the document, she has preserved the “red card” as a souvenir.
Mishro and several hundred residents of her village – Pooth Khurd in north-west Delhi’s Bawana – were among the first few lakhs of people to be allotted the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) by the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) under a pilot project 17 years ago.
