dna exclusive: Resident ID card in the bin

The union home ministry’s ambitious project to equip every ‘usual adult resident’ of the country with a Resident Identity Card (RIC) to make the country secure has run into rough weather as the group of ministers (GoM) studying it dumped it in the cold storage till the high command takes a view on it.

An adult who has been staying at a place for six months is called a usual adult resident of the area.

After clearing several roadblocks, the home ministry had secured clearance from the Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) for the Rs 5,500 crore proposal to issue RIC smart cards under its flagship scheme of National Population Register last year. But in January this year, the union cabinet had again referred it to a high-level GoM to take a considered view of all stakeholders. 

Sources in the government said that with at least three ministers expressing serious reservations over issuing RIC in the second meeting of the GoM, the panel’s chairman AK Antony decided to defer implementation of the RIC and leave it to prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi to take the final call.

The overwhelming view against the RIC was that it would lead to harassment of minorities, mainly Muslims, Dalits, tribals and the poor by the authorities, especially the police, which the government can ill afford at a time when elections are round the corner.

“Naturally, we cannot afford to spark a debate on who is a resident and who is not,” said a minister of state, whose boss was part of the GoM.

At the meeting, objections to the RIC were raised by health minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, law minister Kapil Sibal, tribal affairs minister V Kishore Chandra Deo and deputy chairman of the planning commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia, who was a special invitee to the GoM.

A senior minister tried to counter the arguments by giving example of Andaman & Nicobar Islands where such cards have been issued but no case of harassment has come to the fore. Home minister Sushilkumar Shinde , too, said that the RIC should be allowed in Maharashtra where security concerns are very high in the aftermath of 26/11 terror attack. 
The MHA even tried to strike a bargain by seeking implementation of RIC in vulnerable districts located along the international borders. But Antony chose to play safe in view of the equal opposition. 

Blow to MHA
The GoM’s decision comes as a big blow to the union home ministry  which had gone through an acid test to secure the clearance for RIC that included tough scrutiny by the EFC and road blocks put up by the Planning  Commission, UIDAI and a couple of central ministries.

A senior home ministry official said, “The debate is unnecessary if the country’s security is the concern. We have implemented the scheme in the 3331 coastal villages by distributing over 60 lakh cards and if you do not implement it elsewhere then what is the use of it. Are coastal people any lesser residents?”