The Indian government plans to give all of its 1.2 billion
citizens biometric ID cards, and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani
will lead the project.
The project team will face a huge challenge in securing the
information stored, which will be a target for hackers. But unlike
the UK, the general population are likely to accept the cards.
The project is going to cost an estimated £3bn. The UK ID cards
scheme was expected to cost £5.3bn and the UK government has now
abandoned its plan to make ID cards compulsory. There was lot
of opposition to the scheme in the UK.
Nandan Nilekani, who left Infosys to lead the project, has
described it as a "humongous, mind-boggling challenge",
according to The Telegraph.
Infosys said it accepts Nilekani's decision to leave with "a
sense of duty to a larger cause, but with deep sadness".
The ID scheme is an attempt to fight corruption and could
identify illegal immigrants and tackle terrorism.
Each card will contain personal data and proof of identity, such
as fingerprint or iris scans. It will be linked to a central
database.
Kris Lakshmikanth, managing director at Indian recruitment firm
Headhunters, said it will take a decade to do this. He doubts the
project will get the same level of opposition as the UK scheme
because the general population are not aware of the privacy
risks.
But he is concerned about the security. "I am sure hackers will
hack into the database," he said.
Pradipta Bagchi, head of communications at Indian IT supplier
TCS, said the biggest challenge will not be IT but getting all the
states and government departments involved to agree.
He said it is an ambitious IT project. "India is a massive
country and a lot of it is rural. It also has a lot of different
types of ID in circulation."
Bagchi said he is not concerned about having to carry an ID
card. "Security will be an issue, but in India we have not seen too
many incidents of data getting lost."
NR Narayana Murthy, chairman at Infosys, said, "We are glad that
an extraordinary individual like Nandan has got an opportunity to
add value to India through this position. As a company that has
always put the interest of the society ahead of itself, Infosys
will accept his absence with a sense of duty to a larger cause, but
with deep sadness at the departure of one of her most illustrious
sons. We, the Infoscions, wish him the best in his new
assignment."