ID cards project on track

ID cards project on track
Anupam TrivediFri, Jul 3 05:20 PM
With the appointment of corporate icon Nandan Nilekani as head of Unique Identification Authority of India, hopes have soared for speedy delivery of a unique identification number (UID) to every citizen. The project is aimed at improving the service delivery model for various government schemes. But officials in Uttarakhand are all the more excited, as a similar exercise has already been initiated in the hill state and a detail survey report submitted to the state government last year. "We are waiting for guidelines from the Centre after Nilekani's appointment," said Ranjan Mishra, director of Information Technology Development Authority (ITDA), an apex body of IT related services in the state. He said Uttarakhand is perhaps the only state in country which has a ready database of citizens covering every minute and major detail. Former Chief Minister N.D. Tiwari had commissioned the ambitious project in 2006 that carried out 'multi purpose household survey' covering 20 lakh families residing in urban areas of the state. "Teams of more than 350 employees carried out the survey of household falling under 63 local bodies in the state," said Umesh Babu of Macro Infotech, which was instrumental in surveying respondents. Babu said it took more than two years to complete the survey and a report was submitted in 2008. The survey envisaged creating a database that would link all government departments enabling them to take policy decision for the welfare of people under e-governance initiative. It was decided that on the next stage 'biometric cards' would also be issued to those covered under the survey. "The database carried all demographic details of respondents like property details, water and electricity connection details, driving licence, passport, PAN card and Voter ID card," said Pankaj Sah, project consultant. He added, "Photographs and biometric finger prints of all citizens above 15 years was also taken." At present, due to bureaucratic bottlenecks, the survey report and database provided to the ITDA is collecting dust but now in the fresh turn of events ITDA is hopeful of positive results.Copyright © Yahoo India Pvt. Ltd. All rights reserved.