SEARCH THIS BLOG

Saturday, March 5, 2011

143 - Citizen IDs to cost Rs 1.5 lakh crore - Source Economic Times

With the central government announcing a panel to implement the programme of giving identity cards to all citizens of the country, it appears that this much hyped scheme is finally getting some traction. It is estimated that this gigantic and complex exercise will involve an expenditure of over Rs 1.5 lakh crore.

It will put India in the club of about 56 countries around the world, which have some form of national identity cards. These include most of continental Europe (not UK), China, Brazil, Japan, Iran, Israel and Indonesia.

The idea itself is not new, but in the past it had not received a clear centralized push. As a result, several pretenders emerged and vied with each other, creating confusion typical of India. There is the PAN card created by the tax department but now used for diverse financial transactions. Then there is the photo ID card issued by the Election Commission, primarily meant for voting.

Earlier, ration cards were the mainstay of identity proof, but lost their relevance as the ration system became restricted. Driving licenses are popularly used as ID but only a very small fraction of the country’s billion-plus citizens have them.

In 2003, the government decided to launch a pilot project for providing the Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC) to 31 lakh people in 12 states and one UT. This exercise was to give a taste of what is entailed in giving ID cards to citizens. The first card was delivered only in 2007 and it is still in progress.

In January this year, the apex court got involved, suggesting to that nation identity cards should be made mandatory for all citizens. This contributed to energizing the languishing program.

The first step in issuing ID cards is building a complete computerized record of all citizens above the age of 18. It needs to be computerized so that it is accessible and it can be updated constantly. The task is being done by the Registrar General of India (RGI) under the home ministry, because they have the requisite experience after all, the RGI carries out the census every decade. In fact, this database is going to be generated along with the next Census, slated for 2011. It will be called the National Population Register.

The technical challenge is to create a tamper-proof smart card, which can function in Indian conditions. A sophisticated software called SCOSTA will reportedly be used for creating the cards. The cards would contain as many as 16 pieces of personal information.

This information will be stored in micro-chips embedded in the card and it will be accessible only to authorized users, like police officials. Apart from carrying personal details like photo, age, address and fingerprints, the MNIC will contain a National Identity Number, which will be unique to the individual.

The other challenge is to computerize the civil registration system across the country so that all births and deaths are entered into the population register.