Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is in talks with embassies to use Aadhaar-based applications to simplify the visa processes. Chetan Chauhan reports.
Having an Aadhaar number could possibility help in faster processing of your visa application.
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Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is in talks with embassies to use Aadhaar-based applications to simplify the visa processes.
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"If Aadhaar helps streamline the visa process, it would be a great service to the applicants," a senior UIDAI official said.
Nilekani said the unique ID verification is fundamental to a whole host of service delivery. "An open architecture of application programme interface allows different people to build applications around the unique identity system. Apps and enrollments will create the momentum for us to get everyone on board," he said.
At least three countries – the US, Canada and Israel — have shown interest in the UIDAI's bid to provide online solution for specific authentication purposes. It includes obtaining medical certificates from listed doctors and personal verification of an applicant.
"A doctor would be able to instantly authenticate the person's identity using Aadhaar-based online authentication system," a senior UIDAI official told HT. Or an embassy representative visiting one's home would be able to authenticate the person's identity immediately.
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"We are looking at the feasibility of the Aadhaar option," said an official of one of the embassies who was not willing to be quoted.
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"We are looking at the feasibility of the Aadhaar option," said an official of one of the embassies who was not willing to be quoted.
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The UIDAI had last month launched its biometric authentication service providing a facility to authenticate the information provided by a person for seeking a service. For instance, a mobile company can do a picture match to find out whether the information provided by the person seeking mobile connection is correct or not. "The authentication provides an answer in the yes or no format without divulging demographic details of the person," an official said.
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.
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