Identities for all

All 1.2 billion citizens of the country should have unique identity numbers by June, 2013, the Union Cabinet decided on Friday, seeking to cap a fractious internal debate on which agency should record and store biometric data. The Cabinet plumped for a complete rollout of the scheme, aiming to plug loopholes in welfare programmes where identifying beneficiaries and checking leakages is a major challenge. The government is keen to complete the UID registrations before the next general election. Under the compromise arrived at between the conflicting claims of the home ministry on one side and the Planning Commission and UID Authority on the other, it has been decided that both the Registrar General and the Authority will split collection of biometric data. RGI falls under the home ministry. The cabinet committee on UIDAI headed by PM Manmohan Singh ironed out differences between home minister P Chidambram and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia and paved the way for UID authority receiving the mandate to enrol residents beyond the 200 million mark. Now, UIDAI will seek to enrol 600 million residents in 16 states and Union Territories where it is already at work. The remaining 600 million will be recorded by RGI as part of the National Population Register. Now, the two bodies will share information. On the home ministry’s concerns, UIDAI has been asked to review its data collection process to address security issues.