The Hindu Business Line : Nilekani looks to do away with duplicates

The Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, and the Chairman of the National Authority for Unique Identity, Mr Nandan M. Nilekani, at the Chief Minister’s residence in Bangalore on Monday. —

Our Bureau

Bangalore, July 13 “First I will have to go and find an office,” a bemused Mr Nandan Nilekani told an expectant media when asked about the responsibilities and challenges of his new role.

On a more serious note, Mr Nilekani, who was recently been invited by the Prime Minister to head the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said the key issue was to ensure that there were no duplicates. Creating a unique number for all citizens is challenging, he added.

“The big problem today with identity is that many systems have lot of duplicates, which lead to fraud,” he told reporters after meeting the Karnataka Chief Minister, Mr B.S. Yeddyurappa, who felicitated him.

The purpose of the programme is to give every citizen of India a unique identification number using use bio-metric capabilities, fingerprints or whatever, Mr Nilekani said. The UIDAI would then create a national network of verification so that people can confirm who they claim to be.

The authority would seek to create a national or centralised database of Indian citizens, which would be the identity system, an infrastructure, Mr Nilekani said. The State governments could use this platform to run value-added applications such as various Central and State schemes.

“It is very early. Let me take charge,” the former co-chairman of Infosys Technologies Ltd said on being asked specific questions about the scope of the projects or an expected timeline.

In the latest Budget, the Government has made an allocation of Rs 120 crore for this project. Mr Nilekani resigned as the co-chairman of Infosys to embrace the new role.

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Nilekani looks to do away with duplicates