No dispute over Aadhar project: PC

PATTIPULAM (KANCHEEPURAM): Denying that there was rift between Home Ministry and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) over the Aadhar project as reported in a section of the media, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, on Monday, attributed ignorance to such propaganda.Launching the distribution of Resident Identity cards in the main land under National Population Registery (NPR) — Coastal at Pattipulam here, Chidambaram said that these cards would help identify residents living in coastal areas whenever there were terror strikes such as the 26/11 attacks, that were executed by infiltrators through the coast.“Resident Identity card is a biometric smart card which bears information such as name, photograph, father/mother’s name, address, date of birth, education, occupation, besides 10 fingerprints,” he said and added “on submission, the card will be checked for two-level authentication using biometric-reader, a hand-held device.”Elaborating on the difference between the UIDAI-issued Aadhar and NPR, Chidambaram said: “NPR issues a smart card, whereas Aadhaar is a unique number. We are mulling the option of incorporating the Aadhaar number in the NPR smart cards in future. The smart card would serve as a multi-purpose identity card.” Claiming the NPR smart card as the ambitious project of the UPA government, he stated that it would provide unique fool proof ID for all Indians and prevent fake beneficiaries from availing the welfare schemes.Earlier, C Chandramouli, Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, said that the cloning of smart cards would be tough due to its multi-layer security feature and the twin-layer authentication process.