Aadhar cannot be accepted in Sikkim, asserts SNPP

GANGTOK, 30 Jan: Sikkim National People’s Party [SNPP] has condemned the state government’s move to introduce Aadhar Cards in the state as also the recent statements made by the ruling SDF party in favour of Aadhar.
In a press release issued by vice president, Tika Chettri, SNPP alleges that Aadhar is being implemented in all four districts of the state in contradiction with the notification that mentions that these are to be implemented only in two districts.
“SNPP agrees with the Congress party that in the haste to implement this scheme, people without Sikkim Subjects and also illegal foreigners have also been successful in getting these cards, which has a direct effect on national security”, the release states.
The party has further demanded that central laws which have jurisdiction over corruption cases and the CBI be extended to Sikkim first if the Old Laws of Sikkim are done away with despite being provided protection under the Constitution. SNPP has reiterated that a public burning of these cards will be organised if the process is not withdrawn by 16 May.

Aadhar will not dilute sanctity of Sikkim Subject Certificates or CoIs, DESME reassures

WORKSHOP HELD ON AADHAAR ENABLED DIRECT CASH TRANSFER STRATEGY AND IMPLEMENTATION

VISHNU NEOPANEY
GANGTOK, 28 Jan: “The implementation of Aadhaar Card, Unique Identification Authority of India will not dilute the sanctity of Sikkim Subject Certificates or Certificates of Identification preserved under the Old Laws of Sikkim guaranteed under the 371F of the Constitution,” reassured Director, Department of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation [DESME], SD Tshering today at Chintan Bhawan.
He was speaking at the inaugural session of a workshop on Aadhaar-enabled direct cash transfer strategy and implementation organized by DESME with District Nodal Officers, Block Development Officers and Gram Panchayats. It may be recalled that a section of the Opposition here has been opposing the implementation of Aadhar Cards in Sikkim claiming that these dilute the significance and sanctity of SSCs and CoIs. The DESME Director dismissed such charges outright.
“This card will only enable and help the government departments and agencies identify and verify the genuine beneficiaries,” he said.
He stressed that people should not be confused on the issue of Aadhar cards and SSC or CoI adding that there is no conspiracy to tamper with or dilute Sikkim’s identity and Old Laws protected by the Constitution of India.
The Government of India has directed them to implement 10 schemes out of 34 in Sikkim by 01 February, next month and enable beneficiaries to receive direct benefits of the government schemes without any middlemen or lengthy processes, explained Mr Tshering.
He informed that Sikkim has completed nearly 80 percent of enrolment and that direct cash transfer will be implemented in two districts - East and West Sikkim - which have the highest number of UIDs generated.
Seven schemes of the Ministry of Social Justice, three of Human Resource Development Ministry, Tribal Affairs and one under Health & Family Welfare will come under direct cash transfer schemes in Sikkim in the first phase. These schemes are mostly scholarships for students and special girl child Janani Suraksya Yojana.
According to the data available with the DESME, North Sikkim has generated the least percentage of Aadhaar cards with 57.11 percent [24,756 people] of the population covered followed by South with 77.23 percent [1,13,330]. West Sikkim has recorded the highest percentage of Aadhaar cards generated with 86.15 percent [1,17,416 ] followed by East district with 80.85 percent [2,27,419 nos].
Under the existing system, the Central government transfers the welfare schemes to the State exchequer which then proceeds to beneficiaries. This is a long process. However, with the implementation of direct cash transfer enabled by the Aadhaar Card numbers with core banking system, the beneficiaries will receive direct benefits into their bank accounts without delay or mismanagement, said Mr Tshering.
He added that the BDOs and Gram Panchayats play a crucial role in the implementation of Aadhar card and direct cash transfer and urged them to perform their duties responsibly.
Direct cash transfer will be implemented in 51 districts of the Northeast Region by 01 February.

No Aadhar here for non-Sikkimese

GANGTOK, 07 Jan: Enrolment for Aadhar cards or UID [Unique Identification] numbers in Sikkim has become more stringent. The State government, through the Directorate of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation, the nodal department for registering and issuing of Aadhar cards, has become more scrupulous in the enrolment procedure.
For one, people from outside the State can no longer enroll for their UID numbers here in Sikkim. That is to say, a resident of another state currently living in Sikkim, but without residential documents, cannot make his/ her UID card here in Sikkim. It has been informed that such persons will have to return to their respective home states if they want to get a UID card made.
It is not just for such people from ‘outside’ for whom making a UID card in Sikkim has become difficult, but even for locals, the process has become more stringent and lengthy with even more documents being required etc. What this now implies is that while earlier, one could get his/her photograph [for the UID Card] taken immediately after filling out the UID form, now the process has been upturned with a waiting period of as long as 9 months for getting the photograph taken after having submitted the form.
Officials inform that the process has been more strict also for security reasons. In the first round of enrolment, a number of people who do not qualify for enrolment managed to get UID card made. These would have been foreign nationals – from Nepal or Bangladesh - and some with ‘dubious’ credentials. In fact, one such wanted person was arrested here in Sikkim earlier this year after his photo emerged in the UID enrolment.
Officials confirm to as much, stating that it had been discerned that many people ineligible for enrolment under UID had managed to get UID cards in the first round. Apart from creating a security situation it could also lead to confusion at the time of seeking and releasing benefits with the possibility of bonafide beneficiaries losing out to others. So, locals are now being asked for their Sikkim Subjects or Certificates of Identification or some such authoritative document attesting to their residence here; it is not enough just to present such basic documents, but these are now required to be attested by the designated officials as well.
This being the case, people flocking to the DESME office here from all over the state for enrolment have the unpleasant prospect of being returned with directions to get their documents attested at their local administrative office.
Of the ‘non-locals’, only central government employees are being entertained in the UID enrolment process here and even they are being encouraged to have themselves registered in their home states for logistic and practical reasons.
While many had already enrolled for UID cards in the first round last year, a good number of them have not received their UID cards or have received cards with mistakes; in both cases such people have had to enroll afresh and are now finding that it is not as easy and simple as earlier. On the other hand with a waiting period of 9 months for a photo and then another year-long wait till one finally receives a UID card there is bound to be confusion as well as discontent when it comes to acquiring benefits or even for getting an LPG connection which has now been made Aadhar-based as well.

UID number required for Ration Cards

GANGTOK, 18 Sept [IPR]: The Food and Civil supplies department has started the preparation of Ration Cards. Through an official release, the department has requested all residents to quote their Aadhaar or UID Number in the ration card application form.
Those persons who have enrolled in the UID programme but have failed to get their UID number are requested to fill their enrolment Identification number which is mentioned in the enrolment acknowledgment slip given to them during the enrolment. Persons who have not enrolled for UID number can contact the respective district offices of DESM&E for enrolment.
The release mentions that the department is expediting the enrolment process and the second phase of UID enrolment is likely to start in the first week of October 2012.  For the benefit of the residents, the department will be establishing UID enrolment centers in Mangan, Gangtok, Namchi and Gyalshing.
The residents who have enrolled for UID number can also check their respective numbers by logging into UID portal- www.uidai.gov.in

Ernest & Young to prepare DPR on use of UID in various govt programs

GANGTOK, 23 July: DESM&E which is the project implementer for the UID project in Sikkim held a workshop on 20 July to discuss the use of Aadhaar numbers in various government programs and projects. The department has appointed a multinational consultant, Ernest & Young, to prepare a detailed project report for using Aadhaar numbers in various schemes of the government, informs a DESM&E release. 
The government has already notified the use of Aadhaar numbers in all people-oriented services and projects. The workshop was held to get the feedback of various departments on using Aadhaar numbers in their schemes, the release mentions. Twenty eight departments participated in the workshop where the consultant informed them about the study they had conducted on all departments and their findings of their study.
Various opinions were given by the participants and matters were discussed in detail.  DESM&E has already finished the first phase of enrollment where more than 80% of the citizens were enrolled while the second phase of enrollment is expected to begin next month.
The department is now preparing to implement the report being prepared by the consultant which is aimed to improve the delivery and authentication of people based schemes in the state. Use of Aadhaar numbers in programs will dramatically improve the delivery and authentication which will lead to better services and prevent leakages, the release expresses.
The UID Authority of India as already sanctioned some funds to DESM&E to implement Aadhaar based services in the state and DESM&E will implement several Aadhaar based schemes within this financial year itself.

DESM&E establishes UID enrolment center in its office at Gangtok

GANGTOK, 28 Feb: The Department of Economics, Statistics, Monitoring and Evaluation [DESME], the implementing agency of the Unique Identification programme to issue unique identification number or Aadhaar to all residents in the State has established a UID enrolment center in its office (DESM&E HQ) located at Old West School Building complex, Church Road, Gangtok.
A press release informs that the center has been established in order to enroll the residents of Gangtok area who have not been enrolled as yet. The enrolment center will be open from 10 AM to 4 PM on all days from 01 to 10 March. Residents are requested to bring a photocopy of either their Ration Card, Driving License, Passport, Voter ID Card or any document with photograph. For further details the following numbers can be contacted: 03592- 201546/206125.
In the State, the UID enrolment started in March 2011 and about 80% of the residents have been enrolled so far.  In East District, the department has covered all the gram panchayat units and municipal wards, the release adds.

UIDAI report on biometric technology confirms its accuracy and reliability

GANGTOK, 24 Jan: The UIDAI has released a report titled ‘The Role of Biometric Technology in Aadhaar Enrollment’ which confirms that the enrollment system has proven to be reliable, accurate and scalable to meet the nation’s need of providing unique Aadhaar numbers to the entire population, informs a press release.
The report is the outcome of a detailed analysis of the biometric accuracy and performance based on 8.4 crore Aadhaar enrollments.
It has been affirmed that UIDAI’s biometric capability for enrolments is ready to handle high throughput (10 lakh Aadhaars per day), accuracy (99.965% on duplication detection) and scale (database can be of 1.2 billion people). The UIDAI since issuing the first Aadhaar number on 29 Sept 2010 in Tembhali, Maharashtra has issued over 10 crore Aadhaar numbers as of 31 Dec 2011, making it one of the largest biometric systems in the world, the release mentions.
The primary design decisions that have enabled achievement of this high degree of accuracy and scale are: combining both 10 finger prints and 2 iris has greatly improved accuracy of de-duplication; the multi-ABIS solution architecture [three biometric service providers] has contributed to lowering costs, increasing throughput and fine-tuning accuracy; the highly scalable architecture based on open components and commodity hardware has made this ramp-up possible.
On the effectiveness of biometric technology in the Indian context with large number of rural/agricultural workers, the release mentions that the analysis has shown that the ‘Failure to Enroll’ (FTE) rate of the UIDAI Biometric system is at: 0.14%.  This implies that 99.86% of the population can be uniquely identified by the biometric system.
Even the exceptions (0.14%) are checked manually and processed. The False Negative Identification Rate (FNIR) of the UIDAI system is computed to be as low as 0.035%. This implies that 99.965% of all duplicates submitted to the biometric de-duplication system are correctly caught by the system as duplicates.
According to the release, Chairman, UIDAI, Nandan Nilekani said “The UIDAI biometric system is processing over 100 trillion biometric person matches with a high degree of accuracy each day capable of issuing 10 lakh Aadhaars daily. This makes it not only one of the most accurate but soon to be the largest biometric system in the world.”
Director General, UIDAI, RS Sharma said “This certainly gives us a high degree of confidence in executing this project of national importance with scale and accuracy.”

DESM&E bags Aadhaar Excellence Award 2011

GANGTOK, 13 Oct: On the occasion of the first anniversary of UID enrollment, the Unique Identification Authority of India set up under the National Planning Commission, felicitated a number of states and enrolment agencies for their commendable performance relating to Aadhaar or UID number. Sikkim was also one amongst the few who made the list and was awarded the Aadhaar Excellence Award 2011 by the Government of India in appreciation of its commendable performance for Aadhaar Enrolments, informs a press release.