B'lore gets unique ID tech centre

Govt okays Rs 120 crore for the mammoth project

This decision was taken at a  recent high level meeting of the authority chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and attended by chairman Nandan Nilekani and several Union cabinet ministers.  Though the size of the office and its staff strength are yet to be decided, it is learnt that it will be a huge establishment considering its mammoth task.

The government has sanctioned Rs 120 crore for the project as initial budget to create infrastructure and other facilities. The government plans to roll out the first unique identification number in mid-2011 and aims to cover 600 million people within four years.

As the authority has already chosen Karnataka for the pilot implementation of its project and appointed senior IAS officer M N Vidyashankar its state’s nodal officer, the technology centre in Bangalore is expected to result in better co-ordination, sources in the Prime Minister’s Office told Deccan Herald.  

The authority’s headquarters will be New Delhi and it will have eight regional offices whose locations are being identified, sources said. 

Taking note of the contours of the project and the requirement of the massive talent to implement it, the meeting decided to allow the authority to hire people from government as well as private sector. The authority was allowed to hire professionals from persons of Indian origin. The authority will constitute a global advisory council of top academics of Indian origin to advise it on technology and implementation issues.