To sort out differences and duplication between National Population Register (NPR) and Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) over sourcing the biometric details of Indian residents, the Planning Commission is working on a Cabinet note.
Notwithstanding the earlier understanding that the two government agencies would use each other’s biometric data, the NPR with the registrar-general has of late refused to use the data collected by UIDAI.
Following this questions have been raised about duplication in the mammoth task resulting in expenditure of many hundred crore. Sources said, “Since the UIDAI has been using multi-point sources to collect the biometric details, which does not mandate presence of a government nominated person at the time of collection, it would not be advisable for the NPR to use them.”
Even as planning commission, which is working on a note to get Cabinet to resolve the issue, sources in the UIDAI said that for them the controversy that is being talked about these days is a “non-issue”. “We have already built a system in which all three parts — backend, data collection and giving unique numbers to Indian residents — are working perfectly in tandem and in all likelihood we will be able to meet the target of providing 200 million ID by March next year,” they said, adding that if at all the government decides that the authority would use only the data collected by NPR, “we will have no problem, as only one part of our job would be done by them”.
Maintaining that the differences needed to be sorted out, sources, however, said, the problem lied with the focus of the two exercises. “NPR is ultimately aimed at identifying citizens, whereas UID is aimed at providing a Unique Number to Indian residents so that beneficiaries of government’s social sector welfare schemes could be streamlined,” they added.