<p>The Union Home Ministry is planning to revive a project conceptualised by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to offer Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) to citizens. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The project was kick-started by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime but it eventually became a victim of turf war between the Registrar General of India and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).<br /><br />The ministry has prepared a Cabinet note for empowering citizens with MNICs which is awaiting clearance from Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior officers. <br />The cards would be prepared after obtaining full details about individuals that would be recorded in the National Population Register.<br /><br /> Once the note is cleared, it would be put up before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rolling out the scheme beyond 12 lakh citizens who had got the identity cards in the first phase of the project that covered 12 states and one union territory. <br /><br />The cards would be given to people of the age of 18 and above. The latest move by the National Democratic Alliance government also demonstrates that the UIDAI, which was raised under the Planning Commission with entrepreneur Nandan Nilekarni as its head, is likely to lose currency it enjoyed during former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure.<br /><br />Even during the UPA regime, P Chidambaram during his stint as home minister was opposed to the concept of UIDAI generating Aadhar, which was a unique numbers for citizens, primarily to avoid duplication of work the RGI was essentially mandated to plan and execute. <br /><br />The ministry now wants the UIDAI to transfer all data to the RGI and the authority to continue to generate merely the numbers. <br /><br />It is learnt that each MNIC will cost some where between Rs 32 to Rs 35 which is cheaper when compared to Aadhar cards. Charges incurred to post these cards have also been calculated, said government sources. The tamper-proof smart card will be embossed with at least 16 personal details of an individual that would be collected during the exercise of preparing national population register. <br /><br />The government would utilise the services of public sector undertakings to prepare them which will eventually become platform for intra-government and public-government interactions.<br /><br />A credible individual identification system was envisaged by the Vajpayee government towards the end of its tenure in January 2003 during the chief ministers and chief secretaries meetings.<br /><br />The first set of cards were distributed in May 2007. Over 12 lakh people from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry have already obtained the cards.</p>
<p>The Union Home Ministry is planning to revive a project conceptualised by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee government to offer Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC) to citizens. <br /><br /></p>.<p>The project was kick-started by the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) regime but it eventually became a victim of turf war between the Registrar General of India and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).<br /><br />The ministry has prepared a Cabinet note for empowering citizens with MNICs which is awaiting clearance from Home Minister Rajnath Singh and other senior officers. <br />The cards would be prepared after obtaining full details about individuals that would be recorded in the National Population Register.<br /><br /> Once the note is cleared, it would be put up before Prime Minister Narendra Modi for rolling out the scheme beyond 12 lakh citizens who had got the identity cards in the first phase of the project that covered 12 states and one union territory. <br /><br />The cards would be given to people of the age of 18 and above. The latest move by the National Democratic Alliance government also demonstrates that the UIDAI, which was raised under the Planning Commission with entrepreneur Nandan Nilekarni as its head, is likely to lose currency it enjoyed during former prime minister Manmohan Singh’s tenure.<br /><br />Even during the UPA regime, P Chidambaram during his stint as home minister was opposed to the concept of UIDAI generating Aadhar, which was a unique numbers for citizens, primarily to avoid duplication of work the RGI was essentially mandated to plan and execute. <br /><br />The ministry now wants the UIDAI to transfer all data to the RGI and the authority to continue to generate merely the numbers. <br /><br />It is learnt that each MNIC will cost some where between Rs 32 to Rs 35 which is cheaper when compared to Aadhar cards. Charges incurred to post these cards have also been calculated, said government sources. The tamper-proof smart card will be embossed with at least 16 personal details of an individual that would be collected during the exercise of preparing national population register. <br /><br />The government would utilise the services of public sector undertakings to prepare them which will eventually become platform for intra-government and public-government interactions.<br /><br />A credible individual identification system was envisaged by the Vajpayee government towards the end of its tenure in January 2003 during the chief ministers and chief secretaries meetings.<br /><br />The first set of cards were distributed in May 2007. Over 12 lakh people from Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu & Kashmir, Rajasthan, Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and Pondicherry have already obtained the cards.</p>
