Why Aadhaar is a big worry

- IT department has its task cut out

AMIT GUPTA

Ranchi, April 20: State information & technology (IT) department will henceforth act as the nodal agency-cum-registrar for implementing the ambitious Aadhaar project, taking over from two state departments in an effort to speed up enrolments in Jharkhand to complete the work by December.

"This decision has been taken to ensure that a single department is able to take a concerted effort to complete the project. Earlier, registration and issuance of cards were being managed by two departments (state urban development and rural development) and co-ordination suffered," said a senior official of the rural development department.

During his recent visit to Ranchi, UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani said that they had set a deadline of December to complete issuing Aadhaar numbers to the entire 3.29 crore population of the state (as per 2011 census).

This means that Jharkhand has a Herculean task ahead.

So far, only 1.96 crore people have been enrolled, among whom Aadhar numbers have been issued to about 1.49 crore.

The deficit, 1.32 crore enrolments and over 1.80 crore Aadhar numbers, will now have to be met by December.

Nilekani is banking on the state's new chief secretary R.S. Sharma, who has worked closely on the project with him as director general of UIDAI.

Deputy director in the state IT department, S.V. Sahu sounded happy that the Aadhaar project had come to them. "We have started our work," he said confidently.

Aadhaar was launched in the state in September 2010.

The major challenge facing the IT department is to ensure fool-proof enrolments in Maoist-hit districts of Latehar and Chatra where only 9.71 per cent and 17.35 per cent of their respective populations have been issued Aadhaar numbers.

West Singhbhum, Jamtara and Pakur are also lagging behind with only 30 per cent of their populations having received Aadhaar numbers so far.

Latehar deputy commissioner Aradhana Patnaik said till recently, no agency was ready to take up the job of executing the project in the district. "Finally, an agency was selected in October-November last year and enrolments for Aadhaar started in December only in urban areas, followed by rural areas from January-February this year," she told The Telegraph.

Out of nine blocks in Latehar, Aadhaar enrolments have begun in five rebel-hit blocks namely, Garu, Mahuadanr, Herhanj, Baritayu and Barwadih.

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