New Delhi:
The future of India's ambitious project that aims to give every Indian a unique identity will be decided this evening by the Prime Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.
The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) has proposed that it will collect biometric data in 13 states along with the Registrar General India. These states include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Goa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Registrar General of India will collect biometric data in the rest of the states.
However, there is still no clarity on whether the Cabinet will go with online verification of the cards to verify the identity or whether it will go with the card reader technology suggested by the Home Ministry keeping in mind that the Internet doesn't function properly in rural India.
The battle over biometrics between Nandan Nilekani's department and the Home Ministry had ended in a compromise on Wednesday. At a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by senior ministers, Mr Nilekani and Home Minister P Chidambram, it was resolved that the fingerprints and iris scans of Indians will be collected by both teams, with as little duplication as possible.
The UIDAI, headed by Mr Nilekani, comes under the Planning Commission. The Registrar General of India functions under the Home Ministry.
Mr Nilekani, who was head-hunted by the government in 2009 from Infosys, has been leading one of India's most ambitious projects - the Unique Identification Authority of India - that has been set up to issue to every Indian a card bearing a 12-digit ID, or aadhaar, which will be stored in a central database, and linked to the individual's fingerprints and other biometric data. This unique ID will help India's poor avail the welfare schemes and benefits they are entitled to, currently over-run by corrupt middlemen.
Mr Nilekani's department has so far spent Rs. 670 crore and enrolled 20 crore Indians with their biometrics including their finger prints and iris. The problem is that the Home Ministry is empowered to collect exactly the same data for the National Population Register or NPR. At the meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that Mr Nilekani would conduct his enrolment exercise in areas where his team has already collected information on more than 50% of the population. Remaining areas will be handled by the Home Ministry's officials. Mr Nilekani's exercise, the meeting agreed, should be seen through the prism of development; the NPR's focus will remain on accumulating data vital for internal security.
Mr Nilekani's department was initially meant to use the NPR's data for its work. But because the NPR's collection of data was moving slowly, the UIDAI asked for and received permission to collect the biometrics for 20 crore Indians. The logic was that the two databases of the NPR and the UIADI would eventually be married. But the Home Ministry then said that the UIDAI's data was not upto its standard. Separately, concerns have been raised about whether the UIADI is legally empowered to collect personal information, and how the safety of its data would be guaranteed.
The Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) has proposed that it will collect biometric data in 13 states along with the Registrar General India. These states include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tripura, Goa and Andaman and Nicobar Islands.
The Registrar General of India will collect biometric data in the rest of the states.
However, there is still no clarity on whether the Cabinet will go with online verification of the cards to verify the identity or whether it will go with the card reader technology suggested by the Home Ministry keeping in mind that the Internet doesn't function properly in rural India.
The battle over biometrics between Nandan Nilekani's department and the Home Ministry had ended in a compromise on Wednesday. At a meeting chaired by the Prime Minister and attended by senior ministers, Mr Nilekani and Home Minister P Chidambram, it was resolved that the fingerprints and iris scans of Indians will be collected by both teams, with as little duplication as possible.
The UIDAI, headed by Mr Nilekani, comes under the Planning Commission. The Registrar General of India functions under the Home Ministry.
Mr Nilekani, who was head-hunted by the government in 2009 from Infosys, has been leading one of India's most ambitious projects - the Unique Identification Authority of India - that has been set up to issue to every Indian a card bearing a 12-digit ID, or aadhaar, which will be stored in a central database, and linked to the individual's fingerprints and other biometric data. This unique ID will help India's poor avail the welfare schemes and benefits they are entitled to, currently over-run by corrupt middlemen.
Mr Nilekani's department has so far spent Rs. 670 crore and enrolled 20 crore Indians with their biometrics including their finger prints and iris. The problem is that the Home Ministry is empowered to collect exactly the same data for the National Population Register or NPR. At the meeting on Wednesday, it was decided that Mr Nilekani would conduct his enrolment exercise in areas where his team has already collected information on more than 50% of the population. Remaining areas will be handled by the Home Ministry's officials. Mr Nilekani's exercise, the meeting agreed, should be seen through the prism of development; the NPR's focus will remain on accumulating data vital for internal security.
Mr Nilekani's department was initially meant to use the NPR's data for its work. But because the NPR's collection of data was moving slowly, the UIDAI asked for and received permission to collect the biometrics for 20 crore Indians. The logic was that the two databases of the NPR and the UIADI would eventually be married. But the Home Ministry then said that the UIDAI's data was not upto its standard. Separately, concerns have been raised about whether the UIADI is legally empowered to collect personal information, and how the safety of its data would be guaranteed.
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