| New Delhi, Jan. 25: The Planning Commission and the home ministry appeared headed for a compromise on the unique identity project after the Prime Minister stepped in today to end the smart card versus identity number battle. Sources said Nandan Nilekani, who is chairing the unique identification authority, would be given a free run and the home ministry would be allowed to continue its work even if it means some duplication. "The overall message is that Nilekani's project will not be stymied. The home ministry can continue its work but it would not be at the cost of the project of Nilekani, who was invited to lead the scheme," a source said. The source added that the Prime Minister stressed this point. The understanding seems to have been reached at an "informal" meeting Manmohan Singh held with several senior colleagues to resolve differences over security concerns, costs, authenticity of data and duplication. "I think we have come to an agreement on how both the projects (unique identity number and the National Population Register) can proceed together without any difficulty," plan panel deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia said after the meeting. "The cabinet committee (meeting on extending the Unique Identification Authority of India) was rescheduled and will happen on Friday. We are quite hopeful that we will have a resolution of these issues in that meeting." Ahluwalia conceded there were "different" views at the meeting but appeared optimistic about a resolution. "We are moving towards a very satisfactory conclusion.... I think there is agreement that… ways can be found that will avoid avoidable duplication. That was the key issue. I will send the supplementary note (to the cabinet)," he said. Others who attended today's "informal" gathering were Nilekani, home minister P. Chidambaram, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee and national security adviser Shivshankar Menon. The controversy is over collecting bio-metric data, which include fingerprinting and scanning of iris. While the Planning Commission's unique identification authority has been collecting the data from resident Indians, the registrar general and census commissioner, under the home ministry, has been collecting similar information for its national population register (NPR). The registrar general has the mandate to collect data for 1.2 billion people to be included in the NPR. This includes registration of residents above 18 and giving them smart or resident cards with electronically stored personal data. Nilekani's UIDAI has the mandate to collect biometric data of 20 crore people, of whom 17 crore have been covered, for the unique identity numbers, called Aadhaar. It now needs an extension, which Chidambaram's home ministry has been opposing. Ahluwalia had recently said Aadhaar was a more practical option when it comes to electronic transfer of benefits to the rural poor. The smart card, he pointed out, would need a reader while the identity number could be used "even through" mobile phones. The home ministry has two major arguments: security of data and costs. The ministry feels the data collected by the UIDAI is not secure as the information is gathered by hired organisations. On expenses, sources in the Registrar General of India (RGI) said the average cost per head for biometric collection by the UIDAI was around Rs 50. "When we collect it comes to an average of about Rs 28," said a source. "So you calculate: for a billion people the cost of biometrics is Rs 50 billion." However, the UID project, which started after the smart card project, is likely to complete its mandate of 20 crore numbers before the March 31 deadline. Till now, the home ministry has prepared 5 lakh resident cards after collecting biometric data of 10 million people. | 
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