Govt had allcated Rs 120 crore in 2009-10.
THE NANDAN Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has been allotted an outlay of Rs 1,900 crore for 2010-11, significantly up from Rs 31 crore the authority spent in 2009-10. The UIDAI was set up last year with the intent of providing unique identity (UID) numbers to 1.2 billion people of the country. The government had allocated Rs 120 crore to the UIDAI in 2009-10.
The authority would provide an effective platform for financial inclusion and targeted subsidy payments. The first set of UIDs is expected to be issued between August 2010 and February 2011.
The UIDAI has also been roped in by other ministries to manage their resources. The human resource development ministry, for instance, will take the authority’s help to introduce educational reforms by using UID to bring the over 8 million ‘out of school’ children into the education system.
However, the authority has already started facing hurdles as it recently extended the deadline for the bidding process (request for quotation) for its first two information technology projects, from February 24 to March 2.
UIDAI plans to issue 600 million UIDs over the next five years but the project, first of its kind, faces several challenges. The first hurdle is collection of data on each individual. The project will collect data such as iris profiles, biometric prints of 10 fingers, gender, mother and father’s names and address, among other details.
Mukherjee also announced a Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) under Nilekani to create IT projects in systems like Tax Information Network, New Pension Scheme, National Treasury Management Agency, Expenditure Information Network and Goods and Service Tax, which are in different stages of rollout.
Nilekani was also recently asked to head a National Highways Authority of India panel to select a technology to unify toll plazas across the country.