Sunetra Choudhury, September 27, 2011 (New Delhi)
After all the talk of differences between Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Home Minister P Chidambaram, two other cabinet minister rank officials of the government seem to be engaged in a battle.
NDTV has learnt that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has complained to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on how Nandan Nilekani led Unique Idenfication Authority is doubling the cost of the UID scheme.
He has also written to the home minister objecting to methods adopted to collect citizen biometrics like fingerprints and iris scans in the aadhar or unique identification number scheme.
In a letter dated August 30, Ahluwalia wrote: “HM may kindly see the note below with the duplication in the rollout of aadhar numbers by UIDI and the ongoing exercise of the national population register by the registrar general of india. RGI has since informed duplication cannot be avoided.”
The planning commission is objecting to the UID team spending Rs. 3000 crore collect the finger prints, iris scans and photos of just 10 crore people.
Originally this was approved by the government if the data could also be used for the national population register.
But Nilekani now wants to record biometrics for all 120 crore people which will cost almost Rs. 15,000 crore and only be available in 2017 – something which both Montek led plan panel and the expenditure and finance committee have rejected.
Another point of objection is over the iris data. The planning commission says: "a reasoned decision is missing (on) whether iris really needs to be collected."
“We want to avid the duplication of data and of expenditure,” said Planning Commission Member Secretary Sudha Pillai.
Many legal groups have also complained about the fear of data and identity theft which the government is considering.
Some say it is a classic instance of what can go wrong when someone from the private sector is brought into the government. For instance, Nandan Nilekani is supposed to report to this ministry but apparently on many occasions he has gone straight to the finance ministry to get approval. That doesn’t go down well with the bureaucrats in there.
Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/its-montek-vs-nilekani-on-uid-project-budget-180223?cp
NDTV has learnt that Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia has complained to Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram on how Nandan Nilekani led Unique Idenfication Authority is doubling the cost of the UID scheme.
He has also written to the home minister objecting to methods adopted to collect citizen biometrics like fingerprints and iris scans in the aadhar or unique identification number scheme.
In a letter dated August 30, Ahluwalia wrote: “HM may kindly see the note below with the duplication in the rollout of aadhar numbers by UIDI and the ongoing exercise of the national population register by the registrar general of india. RGI has since informed duplication cannot be avoided.”
The planning commission is objecting to the UID team spending Rs. 3000 crore collect the finger prints, iris scans and photos of just 10 crore people.
Originally this was approved by the government if the data could also be used for the national population register.
But Nilekani now wants to record biometrics for all 120 crore people which will cost almost Rs. 15,000 crore and only be available in 2017 – something which both Montek led plan panel and the expenditure and finance committee have rejected.
Another point of objection is over the iris data. The planning commission says: "a reasoned decision is missing (on) whether iris really needs to be collected."
“We want to avid the duplication of data and of expenditure,” said Planning Commission Member Secretary Sudha Pillai.
Many legal groups have also complained about the fear of data and identity theft which the government is considering.
Some say it is a classic instance of what can go wrong when someone from the private sector is brought into the government. For instance, Nandan Nilekani is supposed to report to this ministry but apparently on many occasions he has gone straight to the finance ministry to get approval. That doesn’t go down well with the bureaucrats in there.
Read more at: http://profit.ndtv.com/news/show/its-montek-vs-nilekani-on-uid-project-budget-180223?cp