Prime Minister of India - Dr. Manmohan Singh

PM chairs the first meeting of UIDAI Council

The first meeting of the Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority of India took place at 7 Race Course Road under the Chairmanship of the Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh. The Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Law Minister Dr. Veerappa Moily, Minister for Rural Development and Panchayati Raj Shri C.P. Joshi, Human Resource Development Minister Shri Kapil Sibbal and Dy. Chairman, Planning Commission, Shri Montek Singh Ahluwalia were among those who participated in the meeting. Cabinet Secretary and Secretaries of various Ministries participated in the meeting as special invitees.

The Prime Minister, in his opening remarks, said that his Government attaches high priority to this project. He said that lack of identity proof results in harassments and denial of services to the poor and marginalized. It also results in leakages in various programs of the Government which seek to target to poor. He said that providing identities to the poor and the marginalized will enhance their access to Government services, both at State level and Centre and will enable delivery of direct benefits to poor and under-served. Specifically it will improve the delivery of the flagship of the scheme of the Central Government. The PM emphasized the need for active participation of all the Departments of Government, both At the State and Central level so as to ensure the success of the project which was both unique and challenging due to the sheer size and the numbers involved.

In his presentation Shri Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the UID Authority of India spelled out the strategy of implementing this mbitious project of providing unique identifies to the residents of India. Shri Nilekani outlined benefits this project will bring about to all the stakeholders especially the poor and marginalized of the country in the areas of service delivery, the Government and the Financial Sector. He also emphasized the need for establishing a legal framework for the Authority in due course of time.

The Council endorsed "in principle" the draft strategy of implementation and also resolved to provide a legal framework to the UIDAI in the course of time. It also decided to make UIDAI as the apex authority to set standards in the demographic and biometric data in order to ensure inter-operability.

The Finance Minister suggested that Shri Nilakeni should make a similar presentation before the Cabinet and the Chief Ministers.

Considering the fact that the project is a the first of its kind in its scope, size, technology, logistics and computing, UIDAI was given certain flexibilities in the area of manpower, deployment, organizational structure, etc. Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission summed up the proceedings and described the project as a unique venture which will require everybody's active participation to succeed. He also said that the project, if successful, will result in fundamental transformation in the areas of governance and service deliveries.