UP family ID plan gets Centre’s nod, to pave way for many schemes

LUCKNOW: The Centre has cleared the UP government’s plan to issue identity cards to each family in the state using Aadhaar data and ration cards for authentication of details.
The state will likely launch within a fortnight a portal where citizens can apply for their IDs, which will help execute the government’s “one job for each family” proposal and other welfare schemes like pension and housing.
Planning department secretary Alok Kumar explained that there are 15 crore Aadhaar-validated ration card holders in the state who can be immediately issued family ID cards. He said about 60% of the state’s population is covered by the ration card scheme.
“Each family will be given an ID under this programme. However, as of now, it is voluntary and only those seeking to avail themselves of benefits under any government scheme will need to enrol.
In the initial concept, we will use Aadhaar and ration card details to collect information on families,” Kumar said. The ministry of electronics and information technology (MEIT), which approved the proposal, specified in its letter that no person will be denied any service or benefit on account of failure of Aadhaar-based authentication.
Allowing the use of Aadhaar for issuing family IDs under the state’s Parivar Kalyan Yojana, the ministry said e-KYC data be used only for purposes and schemes that are in compliance with provisions of the Aadhaar Act. Before using Aadhaar data to seed information, the planning department will have to take citizens’ consent.
There will be a need to inform residents of the purpose for which their Aadhaar details are being sought, along with information on how the details will be stored and used. MEIT specified that Aadhaar numbers will not be displayed anywhere in the system and wherever required, only the last four digits may be given out.
The complete details or e-KYC information of residents shall not be shown on the screen and only necessary demographic information must be displayed.