On its way, biometric cards for 10 cr Bihari

HIGH LEVEL MEETING HELD ON WEDNESDAY

BIHAR WAS CHOSEN BY THE UIDAI AS AN EXAMPLE FOR 'AADHAR'

June 10, 2011, Patna: Bihar government will soon provide 'e-Shakti' biometric card to each of its 10 crore citizens. The department of rural development is working on this project to fulfil the desire of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

Minister of rural development Nitish Mishra said an empowered committee held a meeting on Wednesday under development commissioner K C Saha and decided to go for a common survey of people for both the e-Shakti and Unique Identification (UID) cards. "After cabinet approval, tenders will be floated to launch the project across the state," Mishra said on Thursday.

The minister said the project would cost somewhere between Rs 750 to Rs 1,000 crore and will take a minimum of two years to complete. "The e-Shakti cards will be as good as UID ones. This multipurpose card will not only be an identity card but various schemes and services will also be linked to it," said Mishra. The card will be prepared on the basis of the 2011 census.

Bihar's dream project, e-Shakti, was launched by CM Nitish Kumar in February 2009 as an evidence of his government's resolve to take 'sushasan' to the rural masses. The scheme impressed all including the Planning Commission, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and UIDAI head Nandan Nilekani. The project was termed as the precursor to UID's 'Aadhar'. Bihar's 'e-Shakti' was chosen by the UIDAI as an example for 'Aadhar' in the country.