UIDAI steps on gas; 200 mn enrollments by Feb

BANGALORE, INDIA: UIDAI, the Unique Identification Authority of India, has set its sights at the next target. That is, reaching 200 million enrollments by the end of next month, instead of the actual March deadline.

"We expect to hit 200 by February," said UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani, who added that there was no set target to realize by this year.

"We are going to achieve the March target of 200 million enrollments a month in advance. Ultimately, it's the decision of the government (to fix a target for the year)," Nilekani told CIOL.

So far, the UIDAI has recorded biometric details of about 170 million residents of the country. "We aim to complete 60 per cent — 600 million — enrollments by 2014. We are confident that we would achieve it," said Ashok Dalwai, deputy director general of the UIDAI technology centre here.

On the parliamentary committee on finance rejecting the need for statutory status to the UIDAI, Nilekani remarked, "The committee has made some comments. It will be analyzed and taken up by the government."

Replying to a query on the National Population Register (NPR), which has the backing of Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram he would just say that UIDAI employed "a high-funda strategy."

"It's a matter before the cabinet, which should be decided in the next... can't say, how long it would take. There is a group looking at how to converge both (UID and NPR)," he explained.

The UIDAI  has been able to print only about 1.5 lakh letters a day against daily enrollment of 10 lakh residents. As a result, just three crore Aadhaar numbers of the 10 crore generated so far has been dispatched.

Director general and mission director Ram Sewak Sharma dwelt upon the reason for the delay, hinting at delay by the postal department. "We have a partnership with India Post. We don't want to blame anybody... there is a gap there. All I can say is, in near future, we will see things gathering momentum."

Despite all hiccups, Nilekani expressed confidence that various people would build apps, which couldn't be even visualized currently.