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| CM heads seven-member Ministerial panel on UID | | |
Early Times Report
Jammu, Jan 16: Months after IT whiz and one of the finest visionaries of the country Nandan Nilekani made the headlines, the Jammu and Kashmir government has taken first major lead towards implementation of the Unique Identity Project.
Though Jammu and Kashmir is not among the pilot states to be covered in first phase of project but government has constituted a high powered committee to oversee and guide implementation of Unique Identity Project. Chief Minister Omar Abdullah heads the seven member panel of Ministers. Other six members are Deputy Chief Minister Tara Chand, Finance Minister Abdul Rahim Rather, Law and Parliamentary Affairs Minister Ali Mohammad Sagar, Consumer Affairs Minister Qamar Ali Akhoon, Revenue Minister Raman Bhalla and Health Minister Sham Lal Sharma.
The National Authority for Unique Identity (NAUI), set up under the Planning Commission, has yet to pick Jammu and Kashmir for launch of the project. The aim of the UID programme is to provide an identity card to every citizen to establish citizenship and address security concerns.
The programme in each state has to be carried out by the Department of e-governance, which is likely to identify two districts, one urban and one rural, to gather the databases and check their compatibility.
Unique Identity, an integral part of the ongoing Multi-Purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) scheme, will be issued to citizens living in coastal villages of Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal by 2010.
The Union Territories, which will be covered under the first phase, are: Dadar and Nagar Haveli, Lakshadweep, Puducherry and Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The project is likely to cover the entire country by 2012.
The appointment of Nandan Nilekani, the co-chairman of Infosys, as the chairperson of the Unique Identification Authority of India is significant, not only because it marks a departure from the traditional government way of working — of looking at bureaucrats and ex-bureaucrats to head projects of national importance, but also because it shows that the government has actually put out effort to hunt the right person for the job.
Apart from being a globally respected business leader and visionary, Nilekani is known to be passionate about the UID concept and the need to implement it as soon as possible in India. In fact, in the Dataquest Awards 2007, where he headed the jury that decided the Dataquest IT Person of the year, his entire speech was on the need to implement unique ID system for India.
Once the project is rolled out, each Indian citizen will have one unique identification number that will identify him/her. This will not just help the government track down individuals as is highlighted by the media, but will make life far easier for citizens as they will not have to submit so many documents each time they want to avail a new service — private or government.
This will be the equivalent of the social security number in the US. Interestingly, many of the ideas like pension and social security would also be easier to roll out. If used properly, this will also channelize the government subsidies to the right recipients. |
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