The government wants to operationalise the scheme in the backdrop of rising cases of terrorism, infiltration and fake voter ID, rat-ion card which are difficult to detect. Sources in home ministry said the deadline for the scheme has been extended from December 2008 to March 2009, given that the maintenance period of renewing cards and issuing new cards to those citizens left uncovered under the scheme, which is still not been completed in states like UP, West Bengal, Uttarakhand, Jammu, Tripura and Agartala.
The home ministry is "actively" pushing to implement the scheme viewing it as a chance to enhance the security cover of the country. Besides, the scheme will also facilitate the national level e-governance programme, which is one of the important agenda items of the common minimum programme to ensure that the government services reach people in every part of the country, a senior home ministry official said.
For the last phase of the scheme, the government has downgraded the number of cards being issued from two lakh to one lakh cards. Sources in MHA revealed that the government is spending Rs 88 per card which is being distributed free of cost to citizens.
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Quelle/Source: Khabrein.info, 20.10.2008
