Chelur might be Karnataka’s first village to get the unique identification number

Villagers of Chelur, Tumkur district, may be the first to get access to their Unique Identity numbers. Sources in the regional wing of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said that the distribution of UIDs would start from the very villages where Proof of Concept (POC) studies were undertaken a few months ago.

Such studies were taken up in select districts of the state.
“Tumkur and Mysore have been chosen for the distribution of Unique IDs first in Karnataka, as priority would be given to villages where the POC was carried out,” said an official. It may be noted that on April 13, 2010, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), of which Nandan Nilekani is the chairman, began the work of enumeration of adult citizens through a POC exercise in Chelur village.

Sources in the UIDAI said that the distribution of UIDs would begin in the month of September or October 2010, once the state government had finalised enrollment agencies which would be entrusted with the task of collecting biometric data. “Once the biometric data comes, namely the finger print, iris and the photograph, the UIDAI would distribute UIDs,” said UIDAI (Karnataka) deputy director general Ashok MR Dalwai.

Sources in the e-governance department of the state government, which is also the nodal agency for the project in Karnataka, said that the department is in the process of shortlisting agencies for the enrollment of biometric data for the UID project. “We will finalise the process within a month or 90 days,” the official said.