6 lakh city residents to go for another biometric drive!

Rachna Khaira

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, March 7

Apart from locating the 3 lakh population missing from the National Population Register (NPR) in the district, the district administration is also into conduct another biometric test drive for around 6 lakh city residents.

Though the population, according to the 2011 Census, was recorded at 20.69 lakh in the district, around 3 lakh population was found missing during the seeding of Aadhaar card to the NPR enumeration. The enumerators could only locate 17.88 lakh people enrolled in the enumeration booklets, a huge dip of around 13 per cent reported from the 2011 census. The data revealed that the missing population might have ‘migrated’ out of the district in the last four years.

Also, out of the 17.88 lakh, only 14 lakh were found enrolled with the Unique Identification Authority of India. As only Aadhaar has the provision of biometric details and not the NPR, the Central Government who is planning to issue National Identity Card to each of its citizens. It has directed the respective state governments to take up the work of verifying the information and also seed Aadhaar data to NPR database.

During the process of verification, the enumerators were asked to add the phone number of the house owner, verify the total number of family members, mention details about the newly added family member and expired person.

Now, the district administration is in for a tedious task to locate the missing 3 lakh population (present population) to seed its biometric details into the NPR. However, if the state government notifies to get the biometric details of population according to the 2011 census, the district administration might face another big challenge to get biometric details of the entire 6 lakh population (according to the 2011 census)

Girish Dayalan , Additional Deputy Commissioner, Jalandhar, said the district administration had not received any notification so far pertaining to the seeding of the Aadhaar card with that of the NPR according to the 2011 census. “Soon we will be holding special camps for getting the biometric test done for those who were not enrolled with Aadhaar card till date. In a nutshell, whether you have opted for Aadhaar card or not, you will have to provide your biometric identification (iris and fingerprint) to the government, to be considered as an Indian citizen,” said Dayalan.

He said the biometrics would be collected as per the processes and standards laid down by the Unique Identification Authority of India. Citizens should also provide proof for the date of birth.

“Those who have Aadhaar card should produce the card to the enumerator and the number will be entered in the NPR booklet. Those who have enrolled for Aadhaar but did not get the Aadhaar card can produce the UIDAI acknowledgement slip,” said Dayalan.

What is the connection between NPR and Aadhaar (UID No.)? 

The NPR is a register of people who have lived in India for the past six months or are going to live in India for the next six months. The data collected in the NPR after authentication will be sent to the UIDAI for de-duplication and issue of Aadhaar number. Thus the register will contain three elements of data- demographic data, biometric data and the Aadhaar number. There is no exception for people to register under the NPR, even though they have already voter IDs or Aadhaar cards. They have to undergo the processes like the collection of data at the doorstep of the individual by authorised persons, collection of biometrics, authentication through social audit and mandatory verification by the authorities.