ET Bureau | Aug 13, 2011, 10.46AM IST
NEW DELHI: Two ambitious government projects are competing for your fingerprints.
While the National Population Register (NPR) of the Census office has been tasked with the mandate of providing biometric-based identity cards to all Indian residents, Nandan Nilekani's Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has sought more funds to expand the UID enrollment exercise to virtually cover the entire population over the age of five years.
According to the original, but little-known proposal, the two agencies were supposed to work in tandem: unique identity numbers were to be issued by the Authority based on the biometrics captured for the NPR. So, while every Indian resident was to finally have both an NPR card and a UID number, large-scale enrollment was supposed to be done by the Census office.
But the UIDAI first got government nod to offer incentives to 10 crore citizens to register for UIDs. These incentives were later extended for 20 crore citizens to be covered by UIDAI by March 2012, involving a total expenditure of 3,023 crore. So far, about one crore residents have received UID numbers.
In a recent development, the UIDAI has asked for an additional 15,000 crore from the government to go ahead and enroll the entire population using its own agents for fingerprinting and other biometric data.
This has created ripples in the government, as according to official estimates, if both the Census office and UIDAI do separate enrollments, it would result in a 'minimum duplicate expenditure' of 10,000 crore which could go up to as high as 40,000 crore.
To compound matters, while the UIDAI offers a 50 enrollment incentive, no such incentives are doled out by the NPR. This has resulted in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat opting out of the NPR.
UIDAI, NPR agents compete
This has created a peculiar situation where residents of these states will not get national residency cards, say government officials.
Elsewhere, agents appointed by UIDAI and the NPR, are competing to enroll citizens, creating confusion in the minds of ordinary people as both projects are government sponsored, add these officials.
The UIDAI has appointed about 209 registrars, while a consortium of central public sector firms and the Department of Information Technology are in charge of capturing residents' biometrics for the NPR. Two million enrollments have been made under the NPR till date.
While the UIDAI grants an identity number to residents that would be verified online each time they cite it, the smart chip-based NPR card would include residents' UID number and other details, serving as an identity card for all purposes whose veracity could be checked offline with handheld smart-card readers.
The cabinet committee of UIDAI, which is headed by the Prime Minister, deferred a decision on the Authority's proposal for another Rs 15,000 crore last Thursday after concerns were expressed by the Planning Commission and Home ministry about the overlap between the NPR and UIDAI's work.
Officials also point out that the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament for the ministry of planning has objected to the UIDAI collecting people's biometrics without any legal backing.
MPs in the panel have suggested that the authority roll out its programme only after Parliament clears the National Identification Authority of India Bill. The House panel has sought a guarantee that people's private data would be secure in a system where there are multiple registrars capturing their biometrics.
Even the home ministry has raised concerns about the security of sensitive biometric and demographic data under the UIDAI since it relies on 'outsourced service oriented' infrastructure.
The Census office, officially known as the Registrar General of India (RGI), on the other hand has been given the legal mandate through an Act of Parliament to collect biometric data of all residents for the NPR.
While the National Population Register (NPR) of the Census office has been tasked with the mandate of providing biometric-based identity cards to all Indian residents, Nandan Nilekani's Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has sought more funds to expand the UID enrollment exercise to virtually cover the entire population over the age of five years.
According to the original, but little-known proposal, the two agencies were supposed to work in tandem: unique identity numbers were to be issued by the Authority based on the biometrics captured for the NPR. So, while every Indian resident was to finally have both an NPR card and a UID number, large-scale enrollment was supposed to be done by the Census office.
But the UIDAI first got government nod to offer incentives to 10 crore citizens to register for UIDs. These incentives were later extended for 20 crore citizens to be covered by UIDAI by March 2012, involving a total expenditure of 3,023 crore. So far, about one crore residents have received UID numbers.
In a recent development, the UIDAI has asked for an additional 15,000 crore from the government to go ahead and enroll the entire population using its own agents for fingerprinting and other biometric data.
This has created ripples in the government, as according to official estimates, if both the Census office and UIDAI do separate enrollments, it would result in a 'minimum duplicate expenditure' of 10,000 crore which could go up to as high as 40,000 crore.
To compound matters, while the UIDAI offers a 50 enrollment incentive, no such incentives are doled out by the NPR. This has resulted in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat opting out of the NPR.
UIDAI, NPR agents compete
This has created a peculiar situation where residents of these states will not get national residency cards, say government officials.
Elsewhere, agents appointed by UIDAI and the NPR, are competing to enroll citizens, creating confusion in the minds of ordinary people as both projects are government sponsored, add these officials.
The UIDAI has appointed about 209 registrars, while a consortium of central public sector firms and the Department of Information Technology are in charge of capturing residents' biometrics for the NPR. Two million enrollments have been made under the NPR till date.
While the UIDAI grants an identity number to residents that would be verified online each time they cite it, the smart chip-based NPR card would include residents' UID number and other details, serving as an identity card for all purposes whose veracity could be checked offline with handheld smart-card readers.
The cabinet committee of UIDAI, which is headed by the Prime Minister, deferred a decision on the Authority's proposal for another Rs 15,000 crore last Thursday after concerns were expressed by the Planning Commission and Home ministry about the overlap between the NPR and UIDAI's work.
Officials also point out that the Standing Finance Committee of Parliament for the ministry of planning has objected to the UIDAI collecting people's biometrics without any legal backing.
MPs in the panel have suggested that the authority roll out its programme only after Parliament clears the National Identification Authority of India Bill. The House panel has sought a guarantee that people's private data would be secure in a system where there are multiple registrars capturing their biometrics.
Even the home ministry has raised concerns about the security of sensitive biometric and demographic data under the UIDAI since it relies on 'outsourced service oriented' infrastructure.
The Census office, officially known as the Registrar General of India (RGI), on the other hand has been given the legal mandate through an Act of Parliament to collect biometric data of all residents for the NPR.
