Security agencies target UID project
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The much-hyped unique identification number (UID) project of the UPA government may run into rough weather with security agencies raising a strong objection to the biometric data being collected by the UID authority.
They say neither the data nor the UID number can be used for any internal security purpose as this may not be 'foolproof'.
Highly-placed government sources said the security agencies had written to the UID authority, which works under the planning commission, saying the UID number may not eventually eliminate duplicate and fake identities.
“The possibility of inclusion of non-usual residents and creation of false identity profiles is also very real,” the security agencies stated. To address these concerns, sources said, the issue would now be discussed in the cabinet committee on UID.
A highly ambitious project launched by the UPA-II government, it was conceived with the basic purpose to provide each Indian national with a UID number that could be used as an identification proof that the individual is an Indian national.
This would have gradually eliminated other ID proofs like a ration card, voter ID card or even a passport in which the possibility of obtaining a fake ID were much higher.
Further, this database being created by the UID authority would have been used for a number of welfare and development schemes being initiated by the government.
But now with the security agencies raising doubts about whether the UID number was an absolutely safe mechanism the government is looking at corrective methods to plug the loopholes in the system.
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