UIDAI chief Nandan Nilekani meets Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik

India will be the first country in the world to issue unique identification number to its citizens from February, 2011.Unique Identification Authority (UIA ) chairman Nandan Nilekani on Wednesday met Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik here and discussed the launching of the initiative in Orissa from August this year as will be done in the rest of the country.The unique identification number will be issued to 10 crore people in the first phase. Nilekani said that 60 crore people will have this number during the next five years. A regional office will be opened for Orissa and Andhra Pradesh for the project at Hyderabad. The number is likely to be issued to people living in districts of the State in the first phase.N ilekani appreciated the State Government’s efforts to distribute ration cards in Rayagada with fingerprint impression. The Chief Minister promised Government support for launching and completion of the ambitious project in Orissa.Once the project rolls out, it will be easy for people to access schemes announced by the Centre or the State Government. Beneficiaries will be identified by 16-digit identification number. However, the number will not be a proof of citizenship but will be used for identifying the person.Chief Secretary T K Mishra said that the number will help in the implementation of different welfare schemes, including the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS) and other programmes launched by the governments or taken up with private initiative.Besides, it would be necessary for issuing ration cards, passport, PAN cards and job cards for different schemes, including NREGS. Among others, Development Commissioner S P Nanda, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister Bijay Kumar Patnaik and senior officials attended the meeting.