Posted: Friday, Oct 21, 2011 at 0001 hrs IST
New Delhi: Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia on Thursday played down the recent controversy regarding the apex planning body allegedly seeking more control on Nandan Nilekani-chaired Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), saying the latter has the full support of the government and the Commission. “The UID project has the full support of the government and the Planning Commission regarding financial autonomy and executive autonomy,” Ahluwalia said at the economic editors' conference here.
Ahluwalia said that a cabinet note will be circulated next week to address the issues of possible duplication of efforts and its impact on costs in the roll out of Aadhar numbers by the UIDAI and the ongoing exercise of the national population register by the registrar general of India. The controversy was triggered after media reports citing a note from the Planning Commission to the finance ministry appeared to suggest that the Commission wanted more controls on UIDAI.