The Planning department has taken an initiative to have a unified database of citizens in the State.
Though the government departments collect a lot of personal data from citizens under various schemes and programmes, whenever a citizen has to apply for a new service or programme, he or she is asked to furnish a whole lot of data again. This is not only cumbersome but wasting the time of a person in seeking same data again and again.
Thus, the objective of unified database is to facilitate retrieval of data specific to a person that was already recorded in the system on the basis of any one of about 20 identity proofs such as Aadhaar, driving licence, PAN, ration card, voter card etc.
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A number of government departments collect a lot of data from citizens but no two departments coordinate with each other and there is no system for easy retrieval too. Chief Secretary S.K.Joshi suggested that there should be a common database from which any government department could retrieve the information related to a citizen, said official sources. Telangana government has collected enormous data during Samagra Kutumba Survey and this data could be linked to government departments when any government wanted bio-data and personal data of citizens instead of seeking the same data from the citizens again and again. This will not only cut down the paper work but also the time for a transaction, they said.
Aadhaar has privacy issues but it is important to balance between privacy and convenience. Even if some one is reluctant to share Aadhaar number, there are several other identity proofs.
Sources said the Planning department proposed to have the unified database in about three months and Information Technology department has already done a lot of work. The Planning officials are coordinating with the IT department to have the unified database in place.
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For the Planning and Finance departments, the unified data base will be helpful to get a unified view of benefits given to each family. It will help the government to target a scheme better and also tweak a policy to benefit the needy and prioritise the beneficiaries depending on their socio-economic status.