Cabinet clears UIDAI to issue 40 crore more UID cards

New Delhi, Jan 27 (ANI): Cabinet committee today cleared the Unique Identification Authority of India's (UIDAI) proposal to enroll an extra 40 crore people in 16 states. The biometrics in other states will be collected under the National Population Register, NPR project.

The government has also cleared an additional 5,791.74 crore rupees for the UIDAI. The UIDAI has assured that the security concerns raised by the Home Ministry would be addressed.

The entire process by the two agencies will be completed by June next year.

UIDAI Chief Nandan Nilekani told reporters in New Delhi after his proposal was cleared by the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI that Authority will review the security concerns in the next six to eight weeks and begin the process of collection of data from April.

Home Minister P Chidambaram while speaking to mediapersons denied any difference with the Planning Commission over the issuance of the cards.

He added however, in case of discrepancies between UIDAI data and NPR data, NPR will prevail. He said the new system is as secure as humanly as possible. Chidambaram said Aadhaar issued by UIDAI is voluntary and NPR is mandatory.It is a government programme. He maintained that the issue of duplicacy of the data has been avoided.

The chip-based Multipurpose National Identity Card issued by the NPR will capture 15 details of every individual whereas the UIDAI collects five fields. (ANI)