I-card survey begins in Orissa

As many as 97 coastal villages have been taken up for the survey in conformity with National Population Register (NPR) guidelines, Kendrapara Sub collector Ranjan Kumar Das said.

Altogether 227 enumerators who were subjected to intense training were carrying out the process and emphasis was being laid to make the enumeration error-free, he said.
While 55 villages of Rajnagar tehsil have come under the project, 42 human settlements from Mahakalpada tehsil have been picked up for the ongoing survey work, Das said.
Both Rajnagar and Mahakalpada tehsils are regarded as the hub of illegal Bangladeshi migrants.

"We are expecting to meet the prescribed target and complete the survey-cum-enumeration exercise by January 2010 year", he added. The coastal security project is being jointly implemented by the Census Directorate and Union Home department.

Das said the enumerators would gather detail information about people residing in coastal villages. The information would include genealogical order of the families, nativity status and finger prints of those above 15 years.  The Multi-purpose National Identity Card is aimed at providing a unique identification number to each individual.

Photographs and fingerprints of people above 15 years are being taken to prepare the biometric smart cards which would be provided to those above 18 years of age," said Das. Photographs and fingerprints of people above 15 years were being taken as they would be attaining 18 years by the time smart based ID cards were provided to them," he added.

As the country is preparing for the 2011 census, implementation of NPR would be a great help. The government is also planning to merge preparation of the electronically guided NPR with the next census, officials said. Besides photographs and fingerprints, ID cards would also have the address, nationality and personal data of the citizen.