UIDAI and Ministry of Rural Development introduce Biometric IDs

By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 29 June 2010, 20:04 IST   |    1 Comments
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UIDAI and Ministry of Rural Development introduce Biometric IDs
New Delhi: The representatives of the Ministry of Rural Development and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) have come up with the idea of biometric IDs. Its main target is to clear the problem of misuse of job cards.The plan to introduce biometric-aided identity checks began during the time when the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme is facing a lot of criticism for its leakages reports, Ruhi Tiwari from Mint.com A ministry official said, "We want to put the fundamental framework in place in one year. With biometric attendance, I foresee a paradigm shift in concerns such as ghost workers, complaints against sarpanchs, etc." In a 2008 audit report, the Comptroller and Auditor General said that due to poor maintenance of records, the ministry of rural development's figures on employment provided "cannot be said to be very reliable or verifiable." The number of complaints received by the government on this issue amounts to 27. The government spends around 40, 100 Crore for this sector. This scheme aims for a GPS (global positioning system)-enabled plan of biometric attendance to offer workers with job security within a year. This plan has given employment to 1.6 million households since its launch in 2006. The scheme will bring under consideration to take the biometric attendance regularly on the worksite, and transfer data through cellphones with GPS for verification. The biometric IDs plan will ultimately be entrusted to one entity to offer an end to end solution and will most likely enter into partnership with private firms. Experts hold the belief that the biometric system would definitely get a positive feedback. Yamini Aiyar, Senior Fellow and Director of the Accountability Initiative of the Centre for Policy Research said, "The leakages work in many different ways and all the elements of the system need to be addressed for this to work fully. All these questions and concerns have to be addressed holistically in terms of the entire delivery process. If this system does that ultimately, then it is definitely a positive move."

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