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Tuesday, December 20, 2011
2124 - Aadhaar's national goals hinge on tech pilot success in Mysore, Hyderabad, Pune - Economic Times
BANGALORE: A fight is about to break out across the street from Krishnarajendranagar Police Station in Mysore as two middle-aged men try to force their way into a gas agency manned by a few uniformed delivery men. One of them yelled: "This is stupid! Let me talk to the owner." The air is tense and the heat is not helping things either.
The gulf between drawing-board plans and ground realities of a nation fighting for technological advances is posing new challenges, evident from the daily chaos at Mysore's Venus Gas Agency. Here, oil marketing companies are trying to tweak the existing distribution system using a first-of-its kind technology pilot based on the identity database project, Aadhaar.
The success of the pilot is critical for financial inclusion, targeted public distribution and direct cash subsidy transfer by linking it with Aadhaar, issues that have been championed by the Centre.
THE WORKS
Through this pilot, state-owned oil marketing firms like IndianOil, Bharat Petroleum and Hindustan Petroleum -- which sell cooking gas to consumers through distributors -- want to weed out multiple gas connections with a single user with the help of deliveries linked to Aadhaar.
The second and more important part involves testing how direct cash transfers can be implemented, again using Aadhaar.
The project will be in full swing in Mysore, Hyderabad and Pune in less than a week despite a Parliamentary panel suggesting that the UIDAI Act be revised. But teething troubles, angry customers among them, are many.
For instance, CR Nagendra, 40, and his friend Sugendra, 52, have been told by the agency they can't take their LPG refill booking unless they provide relevant documents. "But we have given all documents twice. Why are you making us do this again?" Nagendra asked Subba Singh, a delivery boy with the gas agency, which has 26,000 customers.
As Singh and his colleagues try to pacify the crowd, inside the building, owner N Madhava, an 87-yearold army veteran is vexed too. "I've never had such problems running the agency," said Madhava who believes that the project, if successful, will be a great help to the distributors.
To start with, over 11,000 consumers have to fill up a form which asks for your Aadhaar number, bank account details and personal details. Aadhaar numbers have to be verified before building a database and eliminating fake connections. At the time of delivery, staff trained to use a mobile point-of-sale device needs the consumer to authenticate the purchase using their thumb impression.
After the sale is authenticated, the transaction is closed and a record is maintained by the oil marketing company. "This will make sure that the connection reaches the right person," said KK Sharma, assistant director-general, UIDAI, the agency responsible for Aadhaar rollout.
To test cash subsidy transfer, the consumer will be asked to pay the unsubsidised cost of the cylinder upfront. After the consumer authenticates the purchase, based on the data sent to oil marketing firms, the subsidy will be deposited in the consumer's Aadhaar-linked bank account. "The project will help us streamline the process," says Madhava whose agency has been putting "pressure" on delivery boys to plug leakage and theft.
R.K