September 29, 2011 DC
All Bengalureans will have their Aadhaar numbers before the end of 2012. The UIDAI and state officials have set that as the target for enrolling all Bengalureans under the scheme. This takes into account the current three months’ processing time to get the Aadhaar number from the date of enrolment.
The state government is trying to beat this deadline by increasing the number of enrolment stations in the city from the current 200 to 1000 in two month’s time, and the technology centre is going to double its capacity. “We are trying to reduce the gap of three months (between the day of enrolment and the day of receiving the Aadhaar number at one’s doorstep) to a month. For this, we have ramped up the capacity of the Central Identification Repository (CIDR) to process 10 lakh packets per day, which is the highest in the world, from the previous 5 lakh packets a day,” said Ashok Dalwai, Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India.
Currently, over 1500 enrolment stations across Karnataka see an average enrolment of 60,000 per day. Enrolment is on in 20 districts, said a state government official working closely with the UIDAI. Much of the delay in getting the unique 12-digit alpha-numeric identity is due to the state government, which finalised the tendering late, though Karnataka was one of the first states to sign the MoU with UIDAI in July 2010. The programme to issue Aadhaar numbers was launched only last month, though enrolment began earlier in Tumkur and Mysore districts, in October 2010. It began in Bengaluru in June this year.
“Our (CIDR’s) current capacity of processing 10 lakh packets a day is greater than the enrolment capacity of the entire country (7-8 lakh a day). But, we have a backlog from the time when enrolment was on and processing capacity was low,” explains Mr Dalwai of the UIDAI. “In Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, the enrolment rate is very high. We will need three months time to clear this backlog. However, the enrolment capacity will be going up simultaneously. Considering this, we are going to further increase the processing capacity. If the enrolment stations succeed in enrolling everybody within one year, we hope to generate Aadhaar numbers much before December 2012.”
The state government is trying to beat this deadline by increasing the number of enrolment stations in the city from the current 200 to 1000 in two month’s time, and the technology centre is going to double its capacity. “We are trying to reduce the gap of three months (between the day of enrolment and the day of receiving the Aadhaar number at one’s doorstep) to a month. For this, we have ramped up the capacity of the Central Identification Repository (CIDR) to process 10 lakh packets per day, which is the highest in the world, from the previous 5 lakh packets a day,” said Ashok Dalwai, Deputy Director General, Unique Identification Authority of India.
Currently, over 1500 enrolment stations across Karnataka see an average enrolment of 60,000 per day. Enrolment is on in 20 districts, said a state government official working closely with the UIDAI. Much of the delay in getting the unique 12-digit alpha-numeric identity is due to the state government, which finalised the tendering late, though Karnataka was one of the first states to sign the MoU with UIDAI in July 2010. The programme to issue Aadhaar numbers was launched only last month, though enrolment began earlier in Tumkur and Mysore districts, in October 2010. It began in Bengaluru in June this year.
“Our (CIDR’s) current capacity of processing 10 lakh packets a day is greater than the enrolment capacity of the entire country (7-8 lakh a day). But, we have a backlog from the time when enrolment was on and processing capacity was low,” explains Mr Dalwai of the UIDAI. “In Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, the enrolment rate is very high. We will need three months time to clear this backlog. However, the enrolment capacity will be going up simultaneously. Considering this, we are going to further increase the processing capacity. If the enrolment stations succeed in enrolling everybody within one year, we hope to generate Aadhaar numbers much before December 2012.”