Sibal takes on Nilekani after UID outsources work

Telecom minister Kapil Sibal has taken an objection to Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI’s decision to seek help of private players to deliver unique identification or Aadhaar letters to all those who get enrolled in the programme. Chetan Chauhan reports.

Updated on: Mar 13, 2012, 07:41:24 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Telecom minister Kapil Sibal has taken an objection to Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) decision to seek help of private players to deliver unique identification or Aadhaar letters to all those who get enrolled in the programme.

The UIDAI had signed an agreement with the postal department to deliver Aadhaar letters. The UIDAI pays Rs 20 for each Aadhaar letter delivered.

The authority had, however, found that the department was able to deliver just four crore of 12 crore Aadhaar letters generated. "There is a backlog of 8 crore letters as of now," a senior UIDAI official said. The UIDAI is close to generating 20 crore Aadhaar numbers.

Even though the slow delivery of Aadhaar letters started about four months ago, the UIDAI tried to sort out issues with the department. It took away the printing of the letters from the department and gave it to public sector undertakings to speed up the delivery process.

With not much improvement, the UIDAI recently called an expression of interest from private agencies to deliver the letters. "We want to split the work between private agencies and the postal department," a senior UIDAI official said.

The move has not amused the postal department, which claims to have made huge investments to ensure assured revenue of R400 crore from UIDAI.

Sibal, who is also heads the postal department, has expressed dismay at the UIDAI’s decision to take away the work from the postal department.

According to sources, Sibal had written to Nilekani accusing the UIDAI of informing the postal department only verbally and not through any written communication.

“It will be unethical for UIDAI to split the work,” an official said, quoting Sibal's letter.

The postal department has its reasons for delay.

“Around 30% of the Aadhaar letters don't have correct address. Therefore, locating the correct Aadhaar number holder is taking a lot of time,” said a senior postal department official, who was not willing to be quoted.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
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.Read More

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