India’s ID card project catches US’s fancy

With work poised to begin on providing unique identification cards (ID) to all Indians, the ambitious project has already caught the attention in the US, with lawmakers asking the government why it could not implement a similar project here.

With work poised to begin on providing unique identification cards (ID) to all Indians, the ambitious project has already caught the attention in the US, with lawmakers asking the government why it could not implement a similar project here.

HT Image

“So they (India) are taking on a humongous scale something that we have been struggling with for 20 years,” John Cornyn, the Republican Senator from Texas, said this week during a Congressional hearing on the country’s employment verification system.

Senator Cornyn went on to ask Lynden Melmed, former Chief Counsel, US Citizenship and Immigration Services: “Why is it that we’ve been struggling for 20 years to do this, Mr. Melmed? Do you think it’s because we lack the knowledge, or is it a lack of political will?”

Melmed said it is partly due to lack of technological capabilities and partly due to reluctance on the part of the people to accept it.