Sanjeev Chopra Posted online:
Mon Nov 15 2010, 23:10 hrs
Patiala :
Patiala :
Having initiated the ambitious task of assigning every citizen of the country a unique identity number, the Unique Identification Authority of India is confident of generating the largest database in the world.
Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani, told The Indian Express the authority aims to create online authentication of every person in the country, something which will be another first in the world to its credit.
This, the authority aims at achieving, through deduplication of database created by documenting the iris of both eyes and fingerprints of every individual in the country. This will be done with by using biometrics, which will ensure that no data is duplicated, said Nilekani, who was here to attend the convocation of Thapar University on Saturday, where he was also conferred with the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).
“This is the largest software intensive work challenge, which will create the largest database of 1.2 billion people in the world,” said Nilekani, adding that the biggest challenge ahead was to see that every person in the country got the Unique ID number and see that no person got two such numbers.
The Unique Identification Authority of India has already started work of assigning the Unique ID numbers and has so far handed over the identity number to 45,000 people on September 29 last.
“We are already working in seven states of the country and intend to grant 600 million ID numbers in the next four-and-a-half years. We soon plan to scale up the numbers and working hard on it. We also have an enrolement of 50,000 persons for achieving this project,” he said.
Nilekani added that to achieve the goal of creating this database, the UID Authority has already tied up with 19 nationalised banks and would be tying up with more NGOs soon.
When asked about the handling the contentious issue of IDs to migrants, Nilekani said “we intend to handle the issue through introducers and are hopeful of covering every migrant individual. The aim is to include all in society to make use of public services.”
Nilekani said, “Actually, the idea is to reach out to the poor and marginal people of the country, so that public services can be delivered to them effectively.”
Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, Nandan Nilekani, told The Indian Express the authority aims to create online authentication of every person in the country, something which will be another first in the world to its credit.
This, the authority aims at achieving, through deduplication of database created by documenting the iris of both eyes and fingerprints of every individual in the country. This will be done with by using biometrics, which will ensure that no data is duplicated, said Nilekani, who was here to attend the convocation of Thapar University on Saturday, where he was also conferred with the degree of Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa).
“This is the largest software intensive work challenge, which will create the largest database of 1.2 billion people in the world,” said Nilekani, adding that the biggest challenge ahead was to see that every person in the country got the Unique ID number and see that no person got two such numbers.
The Unique Identification Authority of India has already started work of assigning the Unique ID numbers and has so far handed over the identity number to 45,000 people on September 29 last.
“We are already working in seven states of the country and intend to grant 600 million ID numbers in the next four-and-a-half years. We soon plan to scale up the numbers and working hard on it. We also have an enrolement of 50,000 persons for achieving this project,” he said.
Nilekani added that to achieve the goal of creating this database, the UID Authority has already tied up with 19 nationalised banks and would be tying up with more NGOs soon.
When asked about the handling the contentious issue of IDs to migrants, Nilekani said “we intend to handle the issue through introducers and are hopeful of covering every migrant individual. The aim is to include all in society to make use of public services.”
Nilekani said, “Actually, the idea is to reach out to the poor and marginal people of the country, so that public services can be delivered to them effectively.”