The Hindu Business Line : Survey talks of household ID cards in 6 months

New Delhi, July 3 Barely a week after Mr Nandan Nilekani was appointed to spearhead the Unique Identification Authority of India, the Economic Survey has set out ambitious timelines for the National ID card project, which is based on the unique identification number for citizens.

The Survey talks about rapid operationalisation of UID authority (three months), issue of UID to all residents (six months) and creation of integrated database of information on beneficiaries of government programmes, subsidies and transfers (one year).

“A Household ID (HHID) could be created simultaneously or in parallel by linking it to a set of UIDs of individuals constituting the household,” said the Survey.

These IDs will form the base of a multi-application smart cards (MASC) system that can be used to empower the poor and ensure that they get full benefits of all programmes such as NREGA, PDS, publicly-provided education, skill development, health services, social security, (to persons at special risk), fertiliser subsidy, solar lanterns, and solar cookers, it said.

Boost for domestic IT

Apart from the obvious social benefits of the project, it is also widely expected to galvanise the domestic IT market at a time when the tech industry has been facing slowdown headwinds in large export markets such as the US and Europe.

Leading IT companies such as TCS-CMC, Infosys and Wipro, are said to be eyeing the massive project.

Related Stories:
Industry lauds Nilekani’s appointment