The district administration is making arrangements to provide National Population Register (NPR) biometric identity cards to all citizens from August.
Deputy Commissioner N.S. Channappa Gowda said here on Thursday in a statement that the process of issuing the cards, obtaining which is legally binding on all citizens aged five and above, would conclude by June 2013.
Being taken up in association with Bharat Electronics Ltd. (BEL), the House List obtained under the Census 2011 will form the basis for the enumeration.
Mr. Gowda told The Hindu that obtaining NPR smart card would be mandatory for even those who had already obtained the Adhaar cards issued separately by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). “Anyway issue of Adhaar cards has been stopped now,” Mr. Gowda said.
Campaign
The campaign to register people for NPR cards would begin in the district by August 10 from Mangalore. The rest of the district would be covered subsequently.
The database would be maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Ministry of Home Affairs.
For the biometric card, officials would capture the digital image of iris, fingerprints, and face.
Each centre would register only 50 individuals a day. The administration will issue notices to households in this regard. People would have to bring the notice while registering.
Sub district registrars (municipal commissioners, city or town panchayat commissioner or tahsildars) would give publicity regarding the centres being set up in their jurisdiction for registration.
Do not panic
However, people need not panic since the programme of registration would be a continuous process, Mr. Gowda said. Those who miss the opportunity to register at the designated areas would get an opportunity to obtain them at a later stage too.
The Deputy Commissioner said obtaining the registration under NPR was an obligation for citizens under the section 14(A) of the Citizenship Act, 1955.
People must obtain the smart cards in order to avail of the government scheme benefits in future, and social security programmes in particular, he said.
To a question, the Deputy Commissioner said talks were held at the level of (Union) Home Ministry regarding re-launching of issuing Adhaar cards. The data from NPR could be used by the UIDAI.
