By Aman Sharma
Last updated at 2:06 AM on 29th January 2012Prime Minister Manmohan Singh may have saved Rs6,000 crore by neatly dividing India into two for P. Chidambaram and Nandan Nilekani to share the biometric data collection pie. But the residents of one-half are in for a tough haul.
Things will be especially cumbersome if you happen to live in the territory marked for Nilekani's Unique Identification (UID) project - such as national Capital Delhi or Maharashtra.
First, you will have to enroll at a UID camp, give your fingerprints, iris and face biometrics and then wait for a few months to get your UID number by post.
Divided: Home minister P. Chidambaram and UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani have been dealt their own shares of the biometric data collection pie
But that will not be the end of it. You will again have to queue up when the Registrar General of India, under the home ministry's aegis, holds a camp for the National Population Register (NPR) project.
Here, you will not required to give your biometrics again, but will still be bound under law to enroll under the NPR and provide the UID number already allotted to you. A few months later, you can finally expect to get a card from the government that will carry your UID number.
Things will be much simpler if you happen to live in Chidambaram's 'territory' – the states with huge populations such as Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and West Bengal and the sensitive boundary states such as Jammu and Kashmir and Assam.
You can simply go to the NPR camp, give your biometrics and then wait for the card with a UID number to arrive at your doorstep. The Registrar General of India will take care of the process whereby they will ask UID to generate an Aadhaar number for you and put the same on the card.
A senior official with the Registrar General of India confirmed that NPR camps will be held across the country. 'Even in the states and Union Territories that will be covered by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), people not opting for UID can still come to NPR camps and get the biometric captured. Those people too will get UID numbers, which will reflect on their cards,' the official said.
This may lead to a situation where a resident of Delhi (or those living in the territory to be covered under the UID project) may not bother to enroll with UID at all to give his biometrics as the NPR card will anyway help him later get the UID number.
'The NPR is mandatory while the UID is voluntary. So the NPR has to necessarily follow to capture the data of all those who have not voluntarily enrolled for UID. We hope the UIDAI will cover almost everyone in the states it is operating.... the NPR will still follow with the camp model,' home minister P. Chidambaram has said.
He estimates that there may be five per cent cases in which people who have already given biometrics for UID may again give it at the NPR camp - leading to duplication cost of `250 crore. 'Given the benefits expected out of the project, some unavoidable duplication is well worth paying the price,' he said.
So what has the government achieved by this division of biometric data collection task? Chidambaram says it is speed. 'It will speed up the process. By June 2013, 18 months from now, the biometric collection work in the entire country will be complete. Then applications where Aadhaar will be used can then be rolled out,' he said.
What has been left unsaid is that the June 2013 completion of PM's showpiece UID project would be perfect for the manifesto of the UPA before the 2014 general elections. The twin promise of efficient delivery of public services and country's security will be achieved.
For 60 crore people, however, it is time to line up twice for unique number.
