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UID project: A tough task ahead for Nilekani

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CIOL Bureau
New Update

BANGALORE, INDIA: A proposal that took almost a decade to become a project. And now, it is on the desk of Nandan Nilekani, to be implemented in a span of just two-three years.

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Of course, it is a tough task ahead for Nandan, who will resign as the co-chairman of Infosys to take up the UID (Unique Identity) project, which is more of a social cause for him.

This not only involves collection of data of more than a billion people but also setting up the proper infrastructure in place to convert the information into a database and churn out a plastic card which will be a proof of identity of the card holder.

In year 2000, Tata Consultancy Service was assigned with the task of studying the feasibility of this project. It came up with the report which said that the government would have to earmark around Rs 10,000 crore in three to four years, to implement it.

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The project would also require completely new software, capable of handling detailed information on at least one billion data entries.

Secunderabad-based Logic Designers have been one among the 12 companies who had participated in the pilot project, in 2004.

Speaking to CIOL about the challenges ahead, Raju L Kanchibhotla, CEO of the company said that infrastructure play a significant role in this project.

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Recalling his experience, he said, “Our field engineers had to carry the PCs from place to place, especially in remote villages, where a UPS was a must because of the uncertainty of load shedding. But now the availability of laptops and PDA and hand-held biometric devices will make data collection more convenient.”

The company had issued the cards for the entire population of Sivampet, Medak district in Andhra Pradesh. Looking at the project, Kanchibhotla anticipates a lucrative future during the coming four-five years for many such small- and medium-sized companies, who will be working on the field collecting information and converting them into electronic data.

Most likely Nandan is expected to follow the three-tier network comprising a client tier, that would provide the interface between the user and the network; a data-source tier that would access the central data warehouse, and a mid-tier that would provide an interface between the two.

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Primary data would be collected at various collection points, which could be franchised out to private collectors. To ensure that the database stayed current, the initial phase of the project would have to be completed in 5 years.

Subsequently the enrollment would be in accordance with the rate of growth of population of the respective regions. Here the TCS had recommended a public-private partnership in the collection of data through a process of franchisees, where about eighty per cent of the population could be covered by the private sector with the remaining 20 per cent – in remote and sensitive areas - covered by government.

Of course, a big but a welcoming challenge for Nandan!

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