MHA jittery over UIDAI mandate

The next cabinet meet on the unique identity project will have to deal with the Planning Commission’s note emphasising on extending the mandate of Nandan Nilekani’s Unique identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to use multi-registrars, including the National Population Register (NPR) under the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India (RG&CCI), for collecting biometric data of residents of India.

The recommendations have made the ministry of home affairs (MHA), the nodal ministry for the NPR project, jittery. It believes the Planning Commission’s proposal, if approved, will not only add to the security concerns because of unreliability of data but also be a non-starter in many ways as it will be accessible only online. The future of the NPR depends on the cabinet decision.

Montek Singh Ahluwalia (pictured) is deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.

The MHA is ready to propose to the cabinet to increase the scope of the NPR — to give resident identity smart cards (RIC) to each resident of the country above 18 years of age. It would cost Rs6,000 more to the NPR project that is limited to collection and storage of electronic data of all usual residents above 18 years of age along with their Aadhaar number. 

Government sources told DNA that the cabinet note moved by the Planning Commission enlists four options — collection of biometric only by the UIDAI, by RG&CCI through NPR, by both RG&CCI and UIDAI and collection of biometrics (photograph of the face, impressions of 10 fingers and Iris scan) by the UIDAI with the help of multiple registrars, including NPR. The commission is in favour of the last method. 

The fresh cabinet note has made many in the government, including the MHA, anxious. They feel the UIDAI is bulldozing the government as the project’s initial purpose was limited to giving a unique identity number to each resident. It has, however, yet to get a full legal mandate through an act of Parliament. They are also concerned about the unreliability of the biometric data that is being procured by multiple agencies without any accountability system in place.

The NPR data is being collected through a well thought out method - from a cluster of 125 households from village and mohalla levels to sub-town (tehsil) levels as well as from the district, state and Centre - by government officials who are accountable at every step. Enabled legally, they double check the data by visiting each household again. Authenticated signed lists are then put up for objections.

“The UIDAI, on the other hand, is collecting data through sundry agencies by setting up camps everywhere. Who will be blamed if the data is wrong or is fed in the wrong person’s name as some sting operations have shown? And what if some person working in one of the many agencies leaks the biographic data of a sensitive location to inimical forces? Where are the checks and balances?” a source asked.

The other objection is how the UID number fed into servers with biometric data for online use will benefit people in places that do not have internet and tele-connectivity.

As part of the NPR project, residents are being given RIC that have the necessary 15 fields of information along with his or her photo, biometric data and the unique identity number embedded in a 64kb microprocessor chip that would be destroyed if tampered with.

“The RIC can be checked anywhere by hand-held machines to establish the identity of a person. Is the online UID system handy for a MNREGA labourer working in a remote area or to security personnel who wish to establish the identity of a suspect in some jungle? The cabinet should ponder about the reliability of biometric data collection under both the NPR and the UIDAI before taking a decision. Does it want a quick job or a complete, dependable and legally sound job for almost an equal amount of money?” an official asked.