[Reader-list] Govt will take steps to end ID card duplication: Nilekani- 144

[Taha Mehmood]

Govt will take steps to end ID card duplication: Nilekani
Press Trust of India / Bangalore July 13, 2009, 12:58 IST

http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/govt-will-take-steps-to-end-id-card-duplication-nilekani/67494/on

Nandan M Nilekani, who was appointed as head of Unique Identification
Authority of India(UIAI), today said the government would take steps
to end ID card duplication leading to fraud and create a network of
verification and authentication.

"The UIAI would create a centralised, national database of Indian
residents," the former Infosys co-chairman told reporters here after
meeting Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, who felicitated him
on his new assignment.

The key issue was to ensure that there were no duplicates, he underlined.

"The big problem today with identity is that many systems have lot of
duplicates which lead to fraud."

The idea is to use bio-metric, fingerprints or whatever to make sure
that people have a unique number, Nilekani shared. The UIAI would then
create a national network of verification so that "people can verify
that somebody is who he claims he is," he said.

Nilekani parried questions on immediate key challenges for UIAI,
saying, "First I have to go and find an office."

On the timeline to complete the project, he added, "Let me go and take
stock of the situation."

The UIAI would create a national authentication and enrollment
capability and an identity system, an "infrastructure" on which
Centre, state governments and private sector can have "value added
applications", he said.

Giving an example, he explained, a state seeking to implement a scheme
can use this database to identify beneficiaries.