Vasantha Natarajan (name changed) and her husband reside in JP Nagar and have heard about the Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) scheme. Recently, they saw a press report about the launch of the scheme for Bangalore in June. They are worried that because they were going to be abroad that time, they will miss getting their UIDs.
"We will be out of the country for about 6 months. I do not know whether they (UID staff) will come again if the occupants are not in the in their houses when they visit", wrote in a worried Natarajan to Citizen Matters.
Natarajan’s worry is shared by many. For instance, voter roll enumeration in Bangalore has led to nightmares; people left out have not exactly had it easy to get into the rolls by submitting forms.
"I hope they have devised a system to deal with it", was his hope.
Citizen Matters raised this question with Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the UIDAI. "In a few months we will be having permanent ‘walk-in’ enrollment sites (like post offices, bank branches, NSDL outlets etc.) where people can come in to enroll at their convenience. That should take care of this", was Nilekani’s quick response.
P Prabhakar, Public Relations officer for the e-Governance Department of the Government of Karnataka, says that UID will likely launch in Bangalore after June 15th. Currently tender process is going on, to finalise companies that will implement the project, he says.
"We plan to cover much of the population within 6-7 months of launching. After this, permanent centres will be set up, wherein people can walk-in and register. Mostly Bangalore One centres will be designated as permanent centers, but this has not been finalised," says Prabhakar.
For registering, citizens have to go the centres to give their documents and biometric data, the UID will be sent to them later. Citizens are also free to register in any part of the country, and not just Bangalore. Currently UID process is going on in Mysore and Tumkur, and if people want to register from these districts, they can do that, says Prabhakar.
At the time this article was published, over 8.5 lakh UIDs have been issued in Mysore, and over 7 lakh in Tumkur, says the UIDAI website. Bangalore is next. ⊕
UID Enrolment – Y’day I visited with my wife and 2nd son to register and encountered a peculiar situation. Normally Son/Daughters/Parents should have the address as given by the leading member of the family/Father, where a person doesnt have their individual address. The Centre Karvy Consultants, Basavanagudi, Bangalore refused to accept the address of the father and ultimately done with the earlier address given and mentioned in Student ID and the In-charge there are not aware to provide any guidance or willing to solve. Their arguments – as to how to believe that he is your son is astonishing. Such issues to be clarified immediately. jayaraman-Bangalore
UID ENROLMENT – While Karvy Consultants-Basavanagudi, Bangalore has done basic facilities at the centres, the following improvements/ameneties to be provided:
1) Senior Citizens above 65 to be sent immly without waiting( every day some 1/2 hour 1 1/2 hour delay than what is indicated in the token happening). A sort of exclusive counter by-passing others to be considered.
2) a polite answer for the queries by people – a responsible person to guide to be available. While it is understandable that a same person has to sit daily and meet the crowd is an ordeal, this excercise need to be handled in a more humane manner in every centre. a sort of general guidelines to be issued.
‘@ Jayaraman
UID officials say, “If the address in student UID card is different from that given by parent, the parent has to provide a document (like ration card) wherein the names of both parent and child appear under the same address. If this is not possible, parent can give a document which proves the relationship between parent and child (such as birth certificate). The Student ID card can be used as photo identity proof rather than address proof. UIDAI plans to introduce a process for updating its information, probably in October. So if the operator has already entered wrong information in the case of your son, you can update it later.”
– News Desk