And the UID comes to Karnataka

BANGALORE, INDIA: Karnataka is launching the first phase of the much-awaited UID enrollment programme today at a function in Mysore, where the Dussehra festivals begin today.

Though it was earlier expected that the country-wide launch will begin in Karnataka, the venue was later shifted to Maharashtra and on September 29 Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi announced the national launch of Aadhar at Tembli village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra.

The UIDAI scheme, announced in July 2009, will provide a "unique identity to each of the over one billion Indian citizens over the next five years".

After a person is allotted a UID number, his/her identity linked to biometrics would be established to uniquely identify the person.

The UID number would authenticate the identity claim of a person and would have wide-ranging applications during the person's lifetime.

The initial launch is in Mysore and Tumkur districts. While Wipro has been appointed as the enrollment agency in Tumkur district, Comat has been chosen for Mysore district, according to reports.

It is also reported that Wipro and Spanco are among the dozen technology companies that have emerged the lowest bidders for doing data collection in different sections of Maharashtra under the Aadhaar project.

As part of enrollment, several designated centres would start accepting documents to get the UID number, which is expected to be issued within 20 days of submitting the documents. According to officials the State will issue only an acknowledgement, and not card, which will have the number along with the name of the resident.