When the second phase of Aadhaar project rolls out across 21 districts in the State in October, it might leave out a large chunk of people – a huge population of migrants and refugees in Bengaluru and other major cities. For people who have made Bengaluru their home, but possess no proof of identification, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has put in place a concept of enrolling people introduced by government officials. But that will happen only at the fag-end of the project, say authorities.
While the first phase covered Mysore and Tumkur districts, the second phase will see enrollments across 21 districts, excluding the seven districts of Gadag, Haveri, Uttara Kannada, Udupi, Bengaluru Rural, Davangere and Chikballapur, which are being covered by a parallel scheme – the National Population Register (NPR) carrying out digitization of demographic data and biometric enrolment of all residents for allotment of Unique Identification (UID) Numbers.
According to senior officials, the State government has already closed the tenders for enrolment agencies and now, the technical evaluation is under process. “We had to abruptly stop enrollments as the milestone for the first phase was 140 lakh card-holders. While Mysore and Tumkur are completed, the coverage in the remaining districts was 0 to 44 per cent of the population (as per the Census 2011). In the second phase, we have fine-tuned processes to make it faster and easier to finish before March 2013. We will give out targets for every quarter,” said a senior official.
Though isolated incidents of impersonation while procuring Aadhaar cards have been reported in Mysore and Bengaluru, the UIDAI says it will not be a matter of concern in future. “The UIDAI has brought in checks and balances. We strictly carry out verification of applications against original documents, which have to be produced at the time of enrollment. To speed up the process and to rule out errors or fake identities, we have trained and certified operators and introduced penalty clause for faulty entries and verifications too.
The possibility of misuse of Aadhaar cards by anti-social elements or miscreants is remote, as the impersonator will be actually entering the national data and a biometric system, which not only establishes his identity, but also makes it simpler for the State to track him too.”