Faced with strong objections from the Home Ministry, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to do a complete review on the procedure and processes of collecting biometric data of 600 million resident Indians and address all security concerns.
Home Minister P Chidambaram recently said UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani conveyed that he would spend the next two months doing a complete review and it would resume biometric capture only in April.
“We have conveyed what the agencies have told us. For the example, the introducer-based model…when somebody introduces somebody, that gives scope for false identity being created, and then there are revelations in the media that people, for a small amount of money, were giving introduction letters.
“That is being brought to Nilekani’s notice and then the competition between more than one agency to capture biometrics. We should not overlook the procedure for the quality of capture of biometrics. The standard must be observed. But I am assured by Nilekani that in the next two months, they will do a through review of all the procedure and processes and ready to resume biometric capture in April. Let’s wait and see,” he said.
