Surabhi,
Posted: Mon Aug 29 2011, 01:08 hrs
New Delhi:
The government’s ambitious project to provide a unique identification number to all residents in the country is facing opposition from two unexpected fronts – the Planning Commission, over almost tripling of costs due to iris scan and the Parliamentary standing committee on finance, over ownership of the project.
The Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) proposal to include iris scan and expand the enrolment drive to 1.12 billion is estimated to increase its budget from Rs 6,600 crore now to Rs 17,900 crore. Along with this, the fund needs of the Registrar General of India (RGI) or the Census office to complete the creation of the National Population Register, too has more than doubled from Rs 3,254 crore to Rs 7,732.85 crore. The NPR is also collecting biometric data of all residents and NPR cards will include UID numbers.
Concerned over the increase in costs and the duplication of work between the NPR and the UIDAI, the Plan panel proposes to soon write to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention. The PM chairs the Planning Commission and had set up the UIDAI as an office attached to the Commission.
The standing committee on finance too is learnt to have raised concerns over the costs and also the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, that seeks to provide legal backing to the project.
The Indian Express sent a detailed e-mail questionnaire to UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani on the issue of costs and iris scanning, but did not get a response. Sources in UIDAI, however, said these issues are not serious given the benefits that will accrue to the public delivery system.
“These will be sorted out. The authority is keeping the finance ministry and the Prime Minister’s Office apprised of its plans,” a source in UIDAI said.
In fact, in a status paper last year, the UIDAI tried to clear the air on the high costs of iris scan. “The current high prices for iris technology are a result of low volume and its use in cost insensitive security applications. Considering the large demand that will come from India for iris devices and software, the UIDAI expects the prices for devices and software to fall rapidly,” it had said.
“A specific decision was never taken by the government to include iris scan. In 2010, it was explicitly said iris scan will be used only if it was decided after thorough examination that such a biometric is needed to stop de-duplication. But the UIDAI wants to include it as a third biometric after photographs and fingerprints,” a senior Planning Commission official said.
Besides, with the inclusion of iris data, the estimated data size per resident has gone up multifold from 150 kilobytes to 5 megabytes.
The Parliamentary committee has also raised concerns over the reporting structure of the UIDAI and the contracts being awarded by it to multiple registrars for enrolling residents.
“The UIDAI is technically reporting to the Planning Commission, but the latter has expressed ambiguity over the structure. If such a massive project is being carried out to capture information on biometrics, then a clear line of monitoring and responsibility has to be put in place,” a person close to the development said.
In fact, in a status paper last year, the UIDAI tried to clear the air on the high costs of iris scan. “The current high prices for iris technology are a result of low volume and its use in cost insensitive security applications. Considering the large demand that will come from India for iris devices and software, the UIDAI expects the prices for devices and software to fall rapidly,” it had said.
“A specific decision was never taken by the government to include iris scan. In 2010, it was explicitly said iris scan will be used only if it was decided after thorough examination that such a biometric is needed to stop de-duplication. But the UIDAI wants to include it as a third biometric after photographs and fingerprints,” a senior Planning Commission official said.
Besides, with the inclusion of iris data, the estimated data size per resident has gone up multifold from 150 kilobytes to 5 megabytes.
The Parliamentary committee has also raised concerns over the reporting structure of the UIDAI and the contracts being awarded by it to multiple registrars for enrolling residents.
“The UIDAI is technically reporting to the Planning Commission, but the latter has expressed ambiguity over the structure. If such a massive project is being carried out to capture information on biometrics, then a clear line of monitoring and responsibility has to be put in place,” a person close to the development said.