Nearly 60% of state to be under UID in a year

The pilot run for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), headed by Nandan Nilekani, could cover nearly 60-70 per cent of citizens in Karnataka within a period of one year post commencement. Karnataka would be the first state to come under the UID project that seeks to issue a unique ID number for each citizen.

At present, the Karnataka government is waiting for guidelines from the UIDAI, after which the planning on issuance of the number would commence.

“After we get the guidelines from UIDAI, we will know when we can start and which places we can cover in the first phase,” said M N Vidyashankar, principal secretary, department of e-governance, government of Karnataka.

The department will appoint a joint commissioner for dissemination of information on the UID project.

The UID is a complex and ambitious project with UIDAI as the regulatory authority. It will manage a central ID Data Repository (CIDR) which will issue UID numbers, update resident information and authenticate the identity of the residents as required.

Boosted by the success of its e-governance projects like Bhoomi and Kaveri, the Karnataka state government is looking at an investment line-up of Rs 400-450 crore till March 2010, which is double of its e-governance spend last year.

Under its Bangalore One project, which looks to bring government-citizen interactions under a single umbrella, the government is increasing the number of centres from 56 to 100 by December 2009 and spreading the initiative to other parts of state under the title ‘Karnataka One’. It is also setting up a second data centre by June 2010.

The state will extend its network of rural BPOs which provides employment to local graduates. There are plans to set up a rural BPO in each of the 30 districts in Karnataka by December 2010.