IfG.CC - The Potsdam eGovernment Competence Center

India’s government has unveiled plans to link its biometrics-backed unique ID number, the Aadhaar, with the National Population Register.

New Delhi says this will lead to a consolidated database that will help it uncover illegal immigrants, money-laundering, and terrorism.

The Aadhar number is individual based, whereas the NPR scheme focuses on the household or the family as a composite unit.

K. Phani Prakash, the assistant director for the Department of Fisheries said out of the 10,000 fishermen living in the two mandals, 3,745 have submitted the appropriate details for ID cards, to be distributed soon.

Paradip Port is one of the major ports of India, serving both the eastern and central parts of the country. Of the 1,715 fishermen in the area, only 250 have received their unique BFICs at a function held in the village, attended by the Director of Fisheries PK Mohan and Commandant of the Coast Guard, Anil Sharma.  According to the article, as many as 21,695 fishermen of 96 villages in the Jagatsinghpur district as well as approximately 18,000 fishermen of the 109 villages in Kendrapada are going to get the new BFICs.

As BiometricUpdate.com has previously mentioned, Indonesia committed US$600 million to provide a national identity card to all of its 172 million residents. The Asian nation has introduced a new eID credential to replace all existing identity cards. The cards, entitled Kartu Tanda Penduduk Elektronik, or e-KTP for short, will be used for voter registration, passport issuance, tax payments and to verify identity for social assistance.

November 2013 marked 500 million enrolments to the scheme, making Aadhaar the largest biometric programme in the world. This year the scheme is set to be linked to major development reforms, and the collection of data, stored in a centrally controlled database, aims to improve transparency, reduce corruption and ensure access to the country’s myriad of welfare benefits.

The new card will reportedly store a photograph of the cardholder as well as fingerprint information. Reported in theJamaica Information Service, National Security Minister, Hon. Peter Bunting said he is looking forward to gains in law enforcement and security as a result of the implementation of this card, and has also tasked the FLA to develop a smartphone app which ties into this database to verify identity.

A strategic partnership between the Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and IrisGuard to implement iris recognition technologies for Government digital services delivery

Today, IrisGuard nd the Jordanian Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship signed a strategic partnership agreement for the use of iris recognition to enhance access to Governmental and private sector services. This partnership marks a significant change in the way services are provided to its citizens and residents, reinforcing their digital transformation journey, with Jordan being the first country to apply innovative iris recognition technologies in Governmental services.

With only four months until elections, officials must work quickly. They face additional pressure in Coast Province, where a secessionist group has threatened to disrupt the voter registration effort.

Software for the IPRS as well for the identity and verification systems has been developed by Ukrainian identification technology, EDAPS, which specializes in the implementation of large-scale government and corporate projects including identification and biometrics.

“This change is necessary in light of continuing passport fraud around the world,” Col. Hasan Ali Ahmad, head of the IT department at the Directorate General of General Security   in Lebanon told the Daily Start in an interview.

According to a report in The Star, the new system – called MySikap – is based on thumbprint biometrics and replaces a physical form system. The RTD handles an average of 1.4 million vehicle ownership transfers each year.

MySikap has been implemented in some states from as early as 2011, though starting next week all Malaysians will be able to use the system.

Many foreigners misuse their social visit passes and stay on in Malaysia to work illegally, including taking part in activities of vice.

In the past, Malaysia has said that thousands of Indian nationals had stayed back in the country long after the expiry of their visas.

Reported in The Star Online, a Federal minister made comments alluding to the potential technology acquisition and said an Election Committee will be formed soon.

Having used the old indelible ink for so long, there has been some resistance to the potential new system. Reported in the Sun Daily, the Center for Public Policy Studies director Ng Yeen Seen said any policy before implementation needs proper analysis and a pilot study before execution.

The announcement was made at the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Eighth Symposium and Exhibition on MRTDs, Biometrics and Security Standards in Montreal.

The new cards are identified as Smart National Identity Card (SNIC), Smart National Identity Card for Overseas Pakistanis (SNICOP) and Smart Pakistan Origin Card (SPOC).

Designed to curtail insurgency and other criminal challenges, this new objective will ultimately issue unique identity numbers to Nigerians, not unlike the Aadhaar program initiated by the Unique Identity Authority of India, which similarly aims to capture the biometrics of all of India’s 1.2 billion habitants.

Considering the country’s past record of biometric objectives, an election using the technology is not unlikely.

According to a report in ITWeb, the Nigerian Society of Engineers has recommended that the country’s electoral commission use the Nigerian Communication Satellite (NigComSat) e-voting platform, which hinges on biometric enrollment.

The Central Bank Governor, Lamido Sanusi, has said that the implementation of bio-metric authentication for Point of Sales (PoS) and Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) will commence by 2015.

Mr. Sanusi, who was represented by the Abuja Branch Controller of the Central Bank, John Chukwudifu, spoke on Tuesday in Abuja at the opening ceremony of the stakeholders sensitisation programme on the cashless policy.

The OASIS international open standards consortium has launched its new Biometrics Technical Committee, with support from government agencies, companies, and universities from around the world. The OASIS Biometrics Technical Committee will create standards that improve interoperability in distributed environments, making biometrics more viable within multi-factor authentication.

The government has expedited preparations with an objective of distributing electronic ID by the end of the FY from any one constituency of the country having internet services. It has presented the framework for distribution of ID with thumb print to 100,000 citizens as a pilot project with aid from the Asian Development Bank at the Council of Ministers for approval. The National ID Management Centre will distribute ID within the next five years in three phases, centre’s executive director Narendra Dahal said.

He said in an interview with WAFA that as of next year, the Palestinian passport will include a barcode that will include all the information needed on the holder of the passport, including fingerprints, blood type, the eye cornea and other facial features, and which is expected to facilitate their movement through airports.