The row between UIDAI Chairperson Nandan Nilekani and Home Minister P Chidambaram over the Unique Identification (UID) project has intensified. The Home Ministry has written to the Cabinet Secretary, seeking a clear cut direction on who will do the enrollment. CNN-IBN has accessed a copy of the note. In the note, the Home Secretary has stated that the UID data is not reliable as anyone can get themselves registered under any...
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Chidambaram seeks Cabinet meeting to resolve UID row by Rajeev Deshpande
Home minister P Chidambaram has written to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, requesting him to call a Cabinet meeting to sort out differences between North Block and Planning Commission that threaten to scupper the ambitious programme. "I request that you may kindly instruct the Planning Commission to immediately bring a note to the Cabinet that the cabinet secretariat to list the note before the Cabinet so that a final decision can be...
More »Empire strikes back by Samar Halarnkar
As you read this, the Unique Identity (UID) programme is likely to have enrolled 200 million Indians. The UID, if it is allowed to, will eventually become the world's largest database of human biometric markers - fingerprints, photo and iris scans. It could go on to 400 million by the end of the year and 600 million by next year. What good is this? If you talk to opponents concerned with civil...
More »Bit Sharers Of The Spoils by Pragya Singh
Muslims, SCs, STs reflect better social indices, closer to national averages Early in the morning, Mohammad Nadeem, a 25-year-old ‘pakka adati’, big wholesaler, at one of Muzaffarnagar’s fruit and vegetable mandis, briskly sets about selling carrots and oranges. As he expertly sifts through sacks of fresh produce, it’s difficult to picture him hawking peanuts by the roadside. But for five years in this bustling western Uttar Pradesh mandi, Nadeem’s store...
More »Setback to UID by Usha Ramanathan
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to be “conceptualised with no clarity” and “directionless”. THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has dealt a body blow to the Unique Identification (UID) project. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up under the Planning Commission by an executive order on January 28, 2009. The scheme involves the collection of demographic and biometric information to issue ID numbers to...
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