Turf war between UIDAI, home ministry intensifies
20 Jan 2012
The simmering turf war between the home ministry and the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UADAI) intensified on Thursday, with home minister P Chidambaram writing to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the issue.
In a one-page letter, Chidambaram has asked Singh to ''instruct'' the Planning Commission to bring a note to the cabinet on the status of the UIDAI, so that there is ''clarity'' on which agency – the Registrar-General of India (RGI) or the UIDAI – will carry on with the task of capturing the biometric data of the population.
The UIDAI comes under the nodal authority of the Planning Commission while the RGI functions under the home ministry.
Meanwhile the home secretary has also written to the cabinet secretary, saying that the UID data is not reliable as anyone can get themselves registered under any name with any address.
The note also says that the UID doesn't accept the ministry of home affairs' data as it sees the ministry as competition.
The letter comes not just in the wake of a standing committee of Parliament rejecting the UIDAI bill, but two articles in the media attacking Chidambaram for obstructing the progress of the scheme.
