Nilekanai Spots Data Source For National ID Cards

JAYATI GHOSE
New Delhi, July 15:

PAN card holders and individuals with household gas connections will be part of the initial database of the national ID card project.

Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, plans to use “people data” that already exist with government authorities.

The Unique Identification Authority of India has the mandate of assigning every Indian with an exclusive identification number.

Nilekani had recently met petroleum minister Murli Deora on using the database with public sector oil companies.

“Oil sector data is a huge resource as the companies distribute petrol, diesel, LPG and kerosene to individuals, which can be used to accomplish the task (of building a database) in hand,” Nilekani said.

The former co-founder of Infosys, who will take charge on July 20, will meet income tax officials over the next few days to procure the details of PAN card holders.

Sources said the Election Commission’s list of voters and census figures would be considered for the database.