More than 10 lakh Chennaites enrol for Aadhar

C Shivakumar

Chennai:

As more than 10 lakh people in the city have enrolled for Aadhaar, a unique identification project, the Census directorate has allayed the fears of Chennaites and said nobody will be left off the project.

Although still 31 lakh people have to be covered by September, Joint Director of Directorate of Census Operations (Tamil Nadu) M R V Krishna Rao said that the department is trying to reach 70 to 75 per cent of the 41 lakh people by September.

“But then one should not panic. Permanent centers would be opened at Zonal offices of Chennai Corporation from October and people can go to the corporation office and register themselves,” he said.

Interestingly, as per the directorate of Census, the newly added areas are not included in Chennai Corporation under the Aadhar project. “The people living in the new areas will be covered by the districts to which they were aligned to earlier,” he said.

Interestingly, the state already has 20 lakh Aadhar cards issued by the Unique Identication Authority of India.  The whole process was stopped as the state was keen to have it done through National Population Registry, he says.

So what will happen to those who already have the Aadhar cards issued by UID. “They are valid cards but then the data has to be updated in National Population Registry (NPR). These card holders have to contact the operators to link their Aadhar card to the NPR,” said Rao.

But the biggest challenge is to bring those who were not registered during the Census survey conducted in June or July 2010. Since they don’t have the acknowledgement form, they are ineligible for enrolment. But Rao says they still can enroll themselves. “All you have to do is go to your corporation zonal office and ask for the form. The details are also in the Chennai Corporation website. Those who can fill the forms themselves can hand it over to office after filling it and for those who are unable to fill, the Corporation zonal officers would help in filling up the form,” he said.

Interestingly, during the survey conducted in 2010, a total of 1.83 crore households were registered. The forms were scanned at Census directorate’s center. The images were then given to Bharat Electronics Limited. They were categorized as per the districts and circulated to six to seven data centers in the state.

“These are data which will be in the screen of the operator while taking in the biometric data,” he said. Now while enrolling for the Aadhar card, the operator will correct the information like the spelling of the names as well as change address in case of change of the ward.

Interestingly, the other big issue is people are not aware of when the process to enroll for Aadhar card starts in their ward. Rao says that it is decided by the Corporation zonal office. “We are not going in for massive awareness as we don’t have adequate manpower to handle such a crowd,” he said.

Interestingly, a day before the enrolment process starts, corporation officials will be providing a KYR (Know Your Resident) form. After filling in the form, they have to bring it along with the acknowldgement card provided during the Census operation in 2010 for the enrolment process that includes capturing of biometric data.

The KYR forms seeks data about you Pan Card, Ration card, Passport number etc. But these are optional. After the data is being stored in the system, the applicant has 92 hours to correct any information which he has provided to the operator. Interestingly, the operator won’t be of any help to change the data. “It is only the supervisor of the center, who could make the changes. After 92 hours, no changes could be made in the data,” Rao said.

Once the data is complied, then after de-duplication process, a 12 digit Aadhar number will be generated. 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. The random number generated will be devoid of any classification based on caste, creed, religion and geography.

After this the process of issuance of Aadhar card will start. First the data will be verified by the local registrars in corporation office and the police department. “They have to certify the data after which the card will be generated,” said Rao.

The card is easily verifiable online and is unique and robust enough to eliminate the large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private databases.

The card 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.