On January 17, 2011, the Madhav Kumar Nepal-led government had endorsed an initial draft of the NID bill which was floated to the cabinet by the Ministry of Home Affairs (MoHA).
The government had prepared the bill with the aim of distributing national identity cards to eligible Nepali citizens. According to provisions incorporated in the bill, the government will distribute NID cards to Nepali citizens who are 16 years old or above. The NID card is expected to gradually replace the existing citizenship cards.
"How many cards does a single Nepali have to carry?" Minister Gupta asked, adding, "Is the national identity card a need of today for the nation?"
Minister Gupta admitted that he deliberately shelved the NID bill as he smelt a rat over the provisions involved. "There has been no adequate discussion on the proposed Act," he added, "It could be dragged into controversy, like the new voter list prepared by the Election Commission, if we give our nod to the draft bill in haste."
"Following the cabinet´s endorsement, the Home Ministry forwarded the bill to the Ministry of Law and Justice (MoLJ) for the latter´s consent before sending it to parliament," said Prahlad Pokharel, under secretary at MoHA, adding, "The process has been halted as MoLJ remained silence over the matter."
Minister Gupta questions the objective of the bill. "The motive behind the NID Act is still not clear," he remarked, "Why go for NID when we already have the citizenship card."
According to Gupta, the proposed NID Act is as unacceptable as the new voter list with voters´ photographs and biometrics.
Following the cabinet´s nod to the draft NID bill, the government had formally requested the Election Commission to collect personal details of those above 16 years or older while collecting details for the new voter registration process. The EC has already spent about Rs 2 billion in the process of compiling a new electoral roll for those 16 years old and above.
After the cabinet´s nod, the government had set up a National Identity Management Center (NIMC) to oversee activities concerning NID.
The NID card is to be developed digitally, with a photo and bio-metric data of the card holder. The card, which will gradually replace the traditional-format citizenship card, will be machine-readable, similar to ATM cards.
The government was all set to start introducing such cards after the completion of work on the new electoral roll.
“Data and other particulars collected for the electoral roll will be helpful for developing NID in the first phase", said Under Secretary Pokharel.
The documents for the electoral roll and NID are similar. Therefore, the government has decided to introduce the card in coordination with the ministries concerned and the Election Commission.
According to officials, there is no possibility of dual issuance of NID cards as the records will be stored in a single computer.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Bimal Gautam
Quelle/Source: Republica, 18.12.2011
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