‘UID tech can be leveraged to transform India’
Monday, May 24, 2010
The government's Unique Identity Programme (UID) will have some major positive economical and social implications, with ample opportunity to leverage the technology far more ambitiously and intensively, according to global consultancy firm Deloitte. "The UID programme will provide the opportunity to leverage technology far more ambitiously and intensively and build truly inclusive, transformational infrastructure. This will improve the overall productivity of our economy," Deloitte India Principal Economist Shanto Ghosh said. According to Deloitte, the UID opens up a vast array of new possibilities for our technological future and offers a foundation on which a host of applications can be built.
Elaborating it with an example, Ghosh says the UID number of each resident can be linked to a bank account through which the government can provide direct services, such as health and education, through digital vouchers and cash benefits.
The Unique Identification Authority of India, headed by Nandan Nilekani, will issue the first set of 12-digit unique identification numbers between August, 2010, and February, 2011. Thereafter, 600 million UID numbers will be issued in the next five years. Apart from providing identity, the UID will enable better delivery of services and effective governance. The UID project is primarily aimed at ensuring inclusive growth. Citing various media reports, Ghosh said the UID programme will create 350,000 new jobs and USD 20 billion of economic output over the next five years.
On the importance of UID on the social front, Ghosh said a large section of funds earmarked for social sector projects "leak" out in the form of corruption and benefits trickling to the wrong population group. "The UID programme will plug that gap." The PDS system is considered largely ineffective because there are no checks and balances to evaluate the functioning of the programmes. This will be vastly improved under the UID, he added.
Posted by common man at 12:09 AM 0 comments
Pune district to collect fingerprints after census for UID project
Thursday, May 20, 2010
In four months from now, the Pune district will initiate the process of collecting data for the Centre’s Unique Identification Number project where every citizen above the age of 15 will have an ID card carrying a unique identification number.
Even as the ongoing census drive will conclude on June 15, the district collectorate will collate data with an agency appointed for the purpose and collect fingerprints of those registered under the census.
The drive is expected to be carried out in September. “Under the census, we have listed the house and have data of each family member of the household. This drive will entail getting the fingerprints of all the family members registered,” said Anil Pawar, resident deputy collector of Pune.
Tenders for hiring the private agency has already been floated, Pawar said, adding that the agency will collate the data and the district administration will help in providing the data collected during the census. He said almost 100 per cent work of house listing has been completed and nearly 60-70 per cent of data collection is done.
However, the Centre is yet to appoint the private agency, Pawar said. A private agency that had bid for the UID scheme said it is yet to hear of any finalisation of the project. “Many companies in the field of biometric system have applied,” said the company officer. Under the Centre’s project, all citizens will receive a special 16 digit number.
With public partnership as the key to the project, the project will look at industries, mobile companies and banks for help. The district is expected to record a 25 per cent increase of population since the last census conducted 10 years ago when the district recorded a population of 72.67 lakh. The projected population for the district is 91.42 lakh.
Posted by common man at 9:46 PM 1 comments
UIDAI will back law to protect data: Nilekani
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will support and endorse any action towards formulating umbrella legislation on protecting data, according to its chairman Nandan Nilekani.
He hoped that this would help address privacy and security concerns, apart from the safeguards being built into the UID Act itself. The draft legislation for the Act, which will make the UIDAI a statutory body, is in the final stages and will be put in the public domain for feedback and suggestions within the next few days, he added.
Mr. Nilekani was speaking after the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI on Tuesday, which gave in-principle approval for the collection of demographic and biometric attributes of all residents. It was also decided to collect iris data for children between 5 and 15 years. For all those above 15, biometric data would include a picture of the face, all 10 fingerprints, and iris data.
The data collection will be standardised so that all registrars – who will actually do the data collection – can use the same methods. The registrars include the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Rural Development departments which run the NREGA programme, the banks, LIC, oil marketing companies, the Registrar General of India which conducts the census, and the National Population Register.
The registrars are free to collect whatever other information they want, so long as they collect the stipulated demographic and biometric data for UIDAI. Similarly, while UID numbers per se will not be mandatory, other agencies – such as the passport office or banks – may make it mandatory to have a UID number.
“We are just a number issuing and data collecting authority…UIDAI is just the back-end,” said Mr. Nilekani.
He said partner agencies would only be allowed to confirm identity with a “yes or no” query. They would not be allowed to access all the details in the database. However, he admitted that in cases of national security, such safeguards could be bypassed and specific information could be given out.
The first UID numbers will be issued between August 2010 and February 2011, and all 600 million numbers will be issued in the next five years.