IfG.CC -
Institute for eGovernment

The United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government has fulfilled its promise to introduce the unique identification (UID) scheme after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress President Sonia Gandhi distributed the first 10 UID numbers, or Aadhaar, in Tembhali village of Nandurbar district in Maharashtra last week. In an interview with Sanjay Jog, Unique Identification Authority of India Chairman Nandan Nilekani explains the objectives of the UID scheme and its challenges.

The Ministry is currently working on a project to provide all such services at the New Doha International Airport, which is expected to be ready by the end of next year.

The services will include finger printing, medical check up and issuance of residence permits, an official at the Department of Borders, Passports and Expatriate Affairs at the Ministry told a seminar here on Monday.

Colonel Saleh Ghanim Al Kubaisi, Director of the Information Systems Department at the Ministry of Interior, told The Peninsula yesterday: "Hopefully, this will happen." Voting, in the Central Municipal Council polls, for example, is carried out using slips of ballots.

QNOC secretary general Sheikh Saud bin Abdul Rahman al-Thani, who inaugurated the office, thanked the Ministry of Interior for providing the facility.

The department’s director, Lt Col Abdullah Saa’d al-Buainain, said the initiative comes under the plan of the ministry to make this service available at the premises of various organisations in the country.

Qatar Islamic Bank (QIB), has introduced facial recognition capabilities, Face ID, in its iOS and Android Mobile App, making it the first Bank in Qatar to allow the facial recognition technology feature on all smartphone devices.

Instead of customers logging into their accounts with their username and password each time they open the QIB Mobile App, they can now use their Face ID to login in a simple and secured manner.

After its turf war with Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI, the Registrar General of India (RGI) has completed data entry of 66.68 crore population and biometrics of 3.12 crore people across the country for preparing a national population register (NPR).

"The capture of biometrics for NPR is in progress and, as on date, data entry of 66.68 crore people and biometrics of 3.12 crore people have been completed," a home ministry official said.

Das deutsche Bundesamt für Sicherheit in der Informationstechnik (BSI)hat ein Tool präsentiert, mit dem sich elektronisch lesbare Informationen zu Gesicht und Fingerabdruck auf kleinen, kontaktlosen Speicherchips in Reisepässen speichern lassen.

A new report has found that India has the highest usage of biometrics per person, thanks to its Aadhaar unique ID scheme.

India now leads globally in the adoption of biometrics techniques, according to HSBC's recent Trust in Technology report.

“The biometric community has long accepted that there is no ‘template aging effect’ for iris recognition, meaning that once you are enrolled in an iris recognition system, your chances of experiencing a false non-match error remain constant over time,” said Kevin Bowyer, Notre Dame’s Schubmehl-Prein Family Chair in Computer Science and Engineering. “This was sometimes expressed as ‘a single enrollment for life.’ Our experimental results show that, in fact, the false non-match rate increases over time, which means that the single enrollment for life idea is wrong.

Announced at the second-quarter review of monetary policy, the move would make transactions at ATMs and point of sale terminals (PoS or merchant terminals) more secure.

RBI said: “One recommendation of the working group (with Gowri Mukherjee as chairperson) formed for securing card-present transactions was that banks could consider the Aadhaar biometric authentication, along with the MagStripe (magnetic stripe), as an additional factor of authentication for card-present transactions at ATMs and POS terminals.” Card-present transactions are those where cards are swiped into a machine or reader.

"We have tightened our security and computerised systems at all our branches to ensure the passports that are being issued cannot be duplicated by anyone", Mr Apleni said.

He said it was plausible to issue the new passport within the next 12 months to all passport holders. Mr Apleni said this was a vital step in reopening negotiations with the UK home office regarding the lifting of a UK visa requirement on South African passport holders.

Last Ramadan, we recruited a private driver from Sir Lanka. After going through medical checkups, he got his visa stamped at the Saudi Embassy in Colombo.

To my surprise, the man was denied entry into the Kingdom on his arrival in Riyadh. The reason: He did not complete the number of years he was required to spend outside the country after his contract with a previous Saudi employer was terminated.

Assistant Foreign Minister Prince Khaled bin Saud said the first such centers would be established in the UAE, S. Korea and Germany on an experimental basis. "The UAE center will be opened by the end of this month," he added.

The ministry has already signed contracts with specialized international companies to establish the centers in various countries, said Prince Khaled Bin Saud Bin Khaled, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs. He said that the first such center will be opened on experimental basis in the United Arab Emirates by the end of this month.

Authorities have adopted effective and swift modules to prevent illegal pilgrims from entering Makkah.

Measures include deportation from the Kingdom and being barred from re-entry for 10 years.

The new system electronically registers the attendance of students and in instances of absence or delay in attendance, parents are notified.