The smart card versus unique identity number battle between P. Chidambaram and Montek Singh Ahluwalia will hit the ground tomorrow at Porthapur village in Andaman and Nicobar Islands when the home minister hands out the first tranche of 2.56 lakh resident identity cards. The resident cards are a rival to the unique identity number conceived by the Planning Commission to establish authentic identification for each resident and cut out corruption in...

The Prime Minister's Office has intervened in the simmering dispute between the home ministry and the Planning Commission over the capture of aadhaar biometrics by ensuring that the issue will be taken up by the Cabinet Committee on UID next week. According to a government source, principal secretary to the prime minister Pulok Chatterjee is learnt to have told officials handling the issue that UID, a major initiative of UPA,...

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...

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...

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has fully supported Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief Nandan Nilekani’s effort to enroll all residents of India under the Aadhaar card scheme. Singh has instructed the Planning Commission to bring a proposal before the cabinet to provide statutory powers to UIDAI to enroll beyond the present limit of 20 crore people. The home ministry, which is collecting biometric details of people for creating the National...