High-powered Government panel recommends identity card for citizens

New Delhi News.Net
Tuesday 27th January, 2009 (ANI)

New Delhi, Jan.27 : A high-powered government committee on Tuesday recommended issuing of unique identity cards citizens in the country in its second Administrative Reforms Commisison (ARC) report on promoting e-governance.

The recommendation holds significance amidst reports of a large number of Bangladeshi immigirants and terrorists sneaking into the country from across the borders.

The committee, in its second Administrative Reforms Commisison (ARC) report on promoting e-governance, has observed that illegal immigration into the country was posing a serious threat to national security.

"One way of dealing with this issue (of illegal immigration) is by means of a citizen's identity number or card," the report stated.

It is pertinent to mention that the just released 186-page report pointed out that the Centre has already implemented a pilot project for a 'Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC)' in select areas of 13 districts in 12 states and one Union Territory.

The report said the 'unique identity' was expected to reduce significantly identity related fraud and allow for better targeting of government schemes.

The Administrative Reforms Commisison (ARC) was of the view that creation of a separate unique identity card system would only be useful if it was exhaustive, accurate and tamper proof.

The report has suggested that: "To start the process immediately, it may be desirable to give unique IDs prospectively for all future births that take place in the country. As the system stabilises, this could then be extended to all citizens in a phased manner."

One aim of the project is "to act as a deterrent for future illegal immigration", the report stated.

Some of the districts covered under the project are Karimganj (Assam), Kathua (Jammu and Kashmir), Kachchh (Gujarat), Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand), West Tripura (Tripura), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu).

"Thus, this project has focused on select border areas of the country with illegal immigration in mind," it stated.

The report said the need for such a card has been considered necessary "not only for security reasons, but also for delivery of services to citizens and taking the development programmes to the target population".

The report stated many of the developmental programmes and schemes, like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGA), include provisions for identifying the target population.

In the absence of a database, identification of target population is done every time a new scheme is implemented. "Even where database do exist, their reliability remains doubtful as there is no system of continuous corroboration with the field situation and regular updation," the report stated.

The report further stated that other aims of the MNIC were to create a credible individual identification system, allow speedy and efficient transactions between the individual and the service provider - both government and non-government, create a user-friendly interface between the citizen and the government and facilitate improvement in the services to the people.

It said the MNIC project was completed in March last and over 12 lakh identity cards have been issued to persons above 18 years.

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