C Shivakumar
Chennai:
More than 8.90 lakh people in the
city have been enrolled for Aadhar, a unique identification project, and the Census department is targeting 70 to
75 per cent of the 41 lakh people (five years and above) in Chennai, excluding
the newly added areas, by the end of September, according to Joint Director of
Directorate of Census Operations (Tamil Nadu) M R V Krishna Rao.
Rao told Express that the deadline
for the process of Aadhaar number generation and the bio-metric data enrolment
for the National Population Registry (NPR) in the city as well as state is
likely to be extended beyond September.
Interestingly, the added areas won’t
figure in the Chennai data of the census department and they will come under
the jurisdiction of Kanchipuram and Thiruvallur districts since they have not
been covered under the 2011 Census.
Rao said as of now the enrolment
process is on in seven zones of the city. “Currently, the process of biometric
data enrolment through iris detection and fingerprinting is being done in 13
wards in Tondiarpet, nine wards in Aynavaram, seven wards in Anna Nagar, 17
wards in Nungambakkam and 17 wards in Kodambakkam,” said Rao.
He said that in Royapuram 65 per
cent of the enrolment is complete and the first phase has been completed. “We
are expecting to start in Adyar by July 8. The process will start in four wards,”
he said.
Across the state, the enrolment
process has started in 32 districts. Six districts have been covered in the
first and second phase. “In the remaining 26 districts, the first phase of
enrolment is going on,” he added.
Interestingly of the 6.74 crore population
(five years and above) in the 32 districts, 3.48 crore have completed biometric
data enrolment. “As per June 28 figures, a total of 2.20 crore Aadhar number
has been generated in the state,” said Rao.
But the biggest challenge before the
Census department is about the complaints emanating from people stating that
they are being left out in the whole process. Rao defends the operators,
certified by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) stating that
the people, who are complaining may not have registered or would not be present
during the census operations.
“They don’t have to panic. They
still can apply by getting the form from the corporation or zonal office free
of cost and filling it. They will be covered in the second phase,” he says.
“During the second round, we will be
focusing on two categories. In the first category are those who were not
covered under National Population Registry. In the second category, we will
focus on addition of new members of the family, which include daughter-in-law,
son-in-law etc. It will also cater to the anomalies in the biometric data
enrolment like the distortion in images, he added.
After two rounds we will wind up and
those who have not yet been enrolled would have to approach the permanent NPR
centres in corporation, zonal office, collectorate and taluka office.
Interestingly, there is lack of
awareness about the Aadhar scheme in the city. Even the educated are unaware of
the scheme and this has resulted in many a times hardly a soul visiting the temporary
centres for enrolment. When asked about it, Rao said the 41 lakh people in the
city are being covered by 200 operators who have 200 kits. “In case there is a
massive awareness, then we don’t have adequate manpower to handle such a crowd.
Not only that, it takes minimum 10 minutes and maximum 20 minutes to register a
person. If we get a massive crowd it will result in chaos and the enrollment
process will be delayed,” he said.
Interestingly, even the operators
have to ensure that they get adequate people per day otherwise it will affect
their bread and butter. “We have fixed the salary of operators on the basis of
how many biometric images they take,” says Rao.
Interestingly, we are covering on an
average 50 to 55 persons per day, says Rao.
Factfile:
Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique number
which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will issue for all
residents in India (on a voluntary basis).
The number will be stored in a
centralized database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric
information – photograph, ten fingerprints and iris – of each individual.
It is easily verifiable in an
online, cost-effective way. It is unique and robust enough to eliminate the
large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private
databases.
The random number generated will be
devoid of any classification based on caste, creed, religion and geography.
It is believed that Unique National
IDs will help address the rigged state elections and widespread embezzlement
that affects subsidies and poverty alleviation programs such as NREGA.
It will also address illegal
immigration into India.
Obtaining a unique number would be
voluntary, but those that opt to stay out of the system will find it difficult
to have access to facilities that require one to cite their identification number.
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