National Population Register, the mamoth digital database of individual identities, has moved the government for financial clearance. The plan of the home ministry to issue identity (ID) cards to over 84 crore residents above the age of 18 years is going to cost the government Rs 6,790 crore. The data once finalised will be part of a confidential database, as reported by Hindustan Times.

The ID cards would have a 64 kilobyte embedded chip which will require internet connectivity in order to read the individual details. However, the home ministry is trying to look for a solution to ensure that no internet connectivity is imperative to obtain the details.

The hand-held chip reader — the size of a credit card swipe reader — that costs about Rs 7,000, would be able to print the data on its small screen. This would include the photograph, pictures of two fingerprints and other demographic details such as date of birth, place of birth and the name of the resident’s father or mother. The card will have a validity of 10 years.

The ministry has done same exrcise in the coastal region and has distributed ID cards to over 1.2 crore  residents. Based on this exercise, the estimated cost of each card would be Rs 80.

Nandan Nilekani promoted Unique identification is on somewhat the same lines, where by the agencies will issue aadhar numbers as a proof of residentship. If compared to NPR, the UID too will face challenges owing to dependence on the internet connectivity and low connectivity in rural areas.