India | Updated Nov 17, 2011 at 08:20pm IST
Meetu Jain
New Delhi: Home Minister P Chidambaram has said that the biometric census done by the Unique Identification project does not pass security criteria. CNN-IBN has accessed Chidambaram and the Registrar General's letters red flagging the biometric data collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
Chidambaram has demanded that the biometric issue should be taken up immediately by the Cabinet committee on UID.
"The possibility of fake identity profile in the UID data is real," Chidambaram said.
The Home Ministry claims that UID can be generated by producing documents without any verification.
The Registrar General and Census Commissioner said that the job of collecting biometric data should be left to them.
However, defending the procedure, UIDAI Chairperson Nandan Nilekani said, "The Aadhaar cards have been given based on the UID data taken as per the accepted procedure."
It's a turf battle on who has the powers to do the biometric data of Indians. It is turning out to be a face-off between Chidambaram and Nilekani.
The Home Minister, in a letter to Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, has made it clear that data collected by the UIDAI does not meet the degree of assurances required under the National Population Register from the point of view of national security.
He has said that the possibility of inclusion of non usual residents and creation of a false identity profile is also real.
The Planning Commission, to whom Nilekani reports, said, "The Planning Commission is aware of the Home Minister's views. We are converging the views of various departments and these will then go to the Cabinet committee on UID."
The alarm raised by the Home Minister has come in the wake of reports that UID enrollments can be done without any checks.
UID can be generated by producing documents without any verification. A Mumbai resident can get his UID number in Delhi. Also, all residents are not being covered and there is no legal sanctity to data collected.
There has also been a serious serious showdown between the Registrar General of India and the UIDAI on whether the Aadhaar data that includes photographs, fingerprints and the iris can be used for the National Population Registrar in its present form.
The Registrar General's contention is that Nilekani's department should issue the Unique Identity Number, but the job of collecting biometric data should be left to the Registrar General.
The question is whether the Aadhaar data can be used in its present form even if the Home Ministry is reluctant to accept it.
Nandan Nilekani in a written response to CNN-IBN has said that the UIDAI data is collected as per approved procedures.
"As far as the enrollment of residents is concerned, the UIDAI follows three methods (approved by Demographics Standards and Verification Procedure Committee) for collecting data: Document based, Introducer based as well as the NPR process. This data (both demographic and Biometric) is the basis on which the unique Aadhaar number is issued," Nilekani said in his letter.
Aadhaar has so far generated 12 crore Unique Identity Numbers with a budget of Rs 470 crore. It is authorised to create UIDs for 20 crore people. The Cabinet Committee on UIDAI is expected to resolve this deadlock.
While some in the government would like to dismiss this as a turf battle that can easily be sorted out, the issues raised go beyond ego tussles. If UID numbers can be generated using fake identities and stolen data, the fear in the Home Ministry is that even terrorists from across the border can get themselves enrolled. Besides, it negates the very purpose of creating a secure data base of people across the country.
