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Aadhar is stronger than US counterpart

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CIOL Bureau
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BANGALORE, INDIA: The UID numbers, which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) headed by Nandan Nilekani is going to launch soon in the country, are better equipped to nab the terrorists and terror suspects than the social security number (SSN), which is given to all US residents.

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The way technology and SSN had helped the US' Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in nabbing the terror suspect Faisal Shahzad for the planting the bomb at Times Square, the various details collected by UIDAI will be equally helpful in bringing down such cases in India.

Principal Secretary, Department of e-governance, Govt of Karnataka, M N Vidyashankar said UID is a stronger tool for nabbing suspect.

“We are collecting fingerprints and Iris scan images of the individuals. This is unique and more powerful than SSN,” he said.

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Starting from the basic source of security and surveillance cameras, to automated systems and investigating, FBI took help from social security number (SSN) of the suspect, in the attempted car bombing.

In the US this is a nine-digit number issued to U.S. citizens, permanent residents, and temporary (working) residents. The SSN is composed of three parts - while the first set of three digits is called the 'area number', the second set of two digits represents the 'group number' and the set of four digits is the 'serial number'. The number is issued to an individual by the Social Security Administration, an independent agency of the United States government.

Terror suspect Faisal received his SSN between 1998-2001, during his stay in Connecticut. This number is helpful during opening bank accounts, acquiring a passport and many other things.

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UIDAI's Aadhar is a 12-digit randomly generated number. Vidyashankar shared that a UID number would basically mention four informations about the UID card holder - namely name, address, age and gender. UID will not only help in nabbing the suspects but also bring down the duplicates and frauds in many departments.

The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India has already given in principle approval the adoption of the approach outlined by UIDAI for collection of demographic and biometric attributes of residents such as face, all ten fingerprints and iris for the project.

Karnataka is planning the state-wide roll out of the UID number by December 2011. The test phase has already begun in two districts - Tumkur and Mysore.

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