Project Censored: “Feed” for Real- India giving 1.2 Billion People Biometric ID Cards

Censored 2011’s number 22 most censored story is, 1.2 Billion People in India to be Given Biometric ID Cards

Image From of < http://www.puppetgov.com/2009/06/27/india-to-institute-national-id-card/ >

• These cards hold a persons: Name, age, birth date, and either fingerprints or iris scan
• They will not have caste or religious information
• Forty-two percent of India’s population is below the poverty line; this ID system will help citizens because they will no longer have trouble identifying themselves.

 

Image From < http://www.puppetgov.com/2009/09/18/india-population-to-be-given-biometric-id-cards/ >

 

• The Biometric number will be entered every time a person accesses services from government departments, DMV offices, and hospitals, as well as other offices.
• India is hoping this will lead to more people paying income taxes (Only 5% do right now!)
• Lack of identification causes citizens to not be included in many programs which help people in need, the ID cards will prevent this and allow them the benefits.
• The plan is to reach 600 million people in the next 5 years (by 2014)
• Estimated cost for the project is $3.5 billion
• This will hopefully also protect people, because it will prevent events such as the 2008 Mumbai attacks by boosting security

Image from of < http://current.com/1igfu4c >

Home Security GK Pillai talks about the Biometric ID Cards and Census

Although this story is considered “Censored” in the United States, by google-ing the title, I was able to come up with hundreds of results with relevant information, mostly from other countries. The US might not be talking about this but the rest of the world is and India is also not afraid to share. Many of these articles have repetitive information but an important one to check out is India’s Unique Identification Authority of India Website  which has lots of information on the planning and objectives of the Biometric ID Cards and how the process will be completed.

Here are a few links which have the story and more information:

India Launches Biometric Census- BBC News

India issues biometric ID to entire population- Wired.co.uk

India to issue all 1.2 billion citizens with biometric ID cards- The Times Online- UK

One billion Indians to get biometric ID cards- Computerweekly.com

The video below gives more information about what is happening with the ID cards and how people in other parts of the world as feeling about them.

A video from RussiaToday about the India Census

In doing the Lexis Nexis search I was able to come across other articles with similar information, but very few from US sources, most were actually articles which could be found just by searching for “India Biometric ID Cards”, it was very easy to find information about this topic. The vibe I got when trying to analyze why this would be censored in the United States may be because we are in similar talks about having a similar ID process.

Image from <http://thegrassyknollonline.com/2008/01/21/real-id-may-be-required-for-purchasing-medicine/ >