Aman Sharma New Delhi, December 12, 2011 | UPDATED 09:30 IST
PM Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi
give a tribal woman her UID card in Maharashtra in 2010.
Many states have complained to the Union Home Ministry of inherent dangers of a massive duplication because biometric attributes of citizens are being collected for the national population register (NPR) as well as the unique identification (UID) project.
Inundated with requests from states and Union territories seeking clarifications, the ministry has told them to stick to collecting data for the NPR only.
It has clarified that the 'Aadhaar' campaign of the Unique Identification Authority is purely voluntary in nature, whereas NPR is mandatory and state governments and Union territories are legally obliged to create the NPR.
The biometric data of 80 lakh people have been collected under the NPR, according to the ministry, while the UID has collected the biometric data of nearly 57 lakh people at a cost of Rs.556 crore.
The ministry's case is that it was given the mandate to prepare the NPR way back in 2003 under the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules.
Under the project, photographs, 10 fingerprints and two irises of all citizens five years and above will be collected.
Home minister P. Chidambaram pointed out in a letter to Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia last month that the processes of the NPR had been carefully devised after considerable deliberations by an empowered group of ministers (EGoM), pilot trials, consultations with states/ UTs and the advice of other ministries.
Designated government officials are collecting the information on specific characteristics of citizens under the NPR and the biometric data are being collected in the presence of Census officials.
But the ministry fears serious security issues with the UID also collecting this biometric data from citizens. Chidambaram pointed out in his letter to Ahluwalia that a UID can be generated by producing documents without any verification. In the absence of documents, a UID generation is possible if a person "introduces" another person.
Also, the process of biometric data collection under the UID is being supervised by private persons.
Chidambaram insists all this makes the possibility of a fake identity profile in the UID data as very real and that persons inimical to the country's security may obtain UID cards.
Read more at: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/states-warn-of-massive-data-duplication-in-uid-project/1/163850.html