The UIDAI Project-heralding a new dawn in India
Biometric technology is in the forefront of government and private initiatives to make the business environment safer and more productive with the help of biometric access control, biometric attendance and so on. One such initiative has been taken by the Indian government to facilitate governance by setting up a centralized database of biometric information.
The UIDAI Project
Accordingly, The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was entrusted with the task of assigning Unique ID to every person residing in India. Once completed, the project will enroll 1.20 billion Indians to central data base located at the Central ID Data Repository. In order to make the system foolproof, Biometric identification systems and checks will be installed to ensure that that every individual is assigned only one identification, without any instances of duplication. Once this is done, biometric fingerprint readers can be used authenticate the beneficiaries of government aided programs, ensuring that the benefits reaches those intended. Also, Finger print readers installed at strategic points will give a boost to the present security apparatus by identifying and profiling the undesirable elements in the society.
In order to make the project a grand success, the UIDAI has roped in Accenture to implement the core biometric identification system in support of the Aadhaar program. The IT Company will assist UIDAI in benchmarking performance, maintaining quality of data, and devising ways and means to make the system more efficient. The project will run for two years or until 200 million enrollments, whichever is earlier.
Krishna Giri, Managing Director of Accenture’s Management Consulting practice, said that the Aadhaar program will help in the implementation of welfare programs like Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) in rural India, as wells as providing easier access to health, education, and welfare programs.
MNREGA program to receive a boost after the implementation of the UIDAI project
The beneficiaries of the Mahatma Gandhi National Employment Guarantee program will benefit from this program as it will do away with lengthy documentation and the role of the middlemen. The beneficiaries of this program will get their wages at their doorsteps after clearing a verification process using a fingerprint reader.
Biometric devices like the ubiquitous USB Fingerprint reader have become necessary in private and governmental organizations alike because of their ease of use and functionality.