JOIN USUnion Home Minister P Chidambaram on Monday denied was any turf war between his ministry and Nandan Nilakeni-headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on unique ID for citizens.
Launching the distribution of the first set of ‘Biometric Smart (Identity) Cards (BSC)’ to citizens under the ‘National Population Register (NPR) project in this coastal village, Chidambaram asserted there was no conflict between BSC and Aadhar numbers.
Stating that the first ‘Coastal NPR project’ was taken up in coastal areas of nine maritime states (Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal), and four union territories (Andaman and Nicobar, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Daman and Diu) to strengthen coastal security, Chidambaram said this project was started before Aadhar.
Though sections of the media had projected a “turf war” between the Home Ministry and the UIDAI over the issue, Chidambaram asserted, “There is no tussle, no conflict.”
The Aadhar scheme assigns “only a unique identification number” to each Indian citizen, while the NPR project is a “biometric smart identity card” that captures various details of residents of the country on a ‘chip’, he explained.
These details includes personal data, capture of photographs and all ten finger prints and issued to all residents who are 18 years and above.
“Under the NPR project so far, the demographic data collection of 1.20 crore persons and ‘biometrics’ of 75 lakh persons in 3331 coastal villages have been completed,” he said.
In Tamil Nadu, 229 villages in 12 coastal districts and covering over 11.77 lakh persons have been covered. Of the latter, about 6.10 lakh persons over 18 years will be issued BSCs’ in the state.
The minister handed over the first two cards to two women residents of Pattipulam at the function, Meena and Maithili, in what he termed as the inaugural launch of the BSCs’ on the Indian mainland, after he had kick-started the distribution in Andaman on Sunday.
Making it clear that the BSCs’ issuance under the NPR was only a beginning, Chidambaram said this will become the unique, primary identity card valid for all residents across India . But as there could be number of people “who are residents, but not Indian citizens” in virtue of working here, the Aadhar as a ‘unique identity number’ will be given to each citizen, he stressed, adding, “there is no conflict or contradiction between the two.”
Once the Aadhar numbers were given, the government will consider how they could be incorporated into the BSCs’ as part of a host of other back-ended data, he said, adding, Aadhar will give BSCs’ a special status. It will then enable the Centre to directly deliver services to the beneficiaries including direct payment of scholarships to students, thereby eliminating bogus claimants under various welfare schemes, he said.