Andaman & Nicobar to have smart cards

The residents of Andaman & Nicobar will be the first one to receive the first tranche of smart cards called Resident Identity Cards (RIC). The smart card will have a 64 KB microprocessor chip.

All the selected 3,331 coastal villages has been covered in the first phase of the project of these States/UTs. In Andaman & Nicobar Islands, besides the villages, all the towns will also be covered in the first phase itself. The approved cost of the scheme is Rs 216.31 crore.

The cards will be distributed by the union Home Minister P Chidambaram in porthrapur village, Port Blair tomorrow on his official visit to the union territory.

About 2.56 lakh cards will distributed to all persons who have completed 18 years of age in Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

It had been decided to create a National Population Register (NPR) in the coastal areas of 9 maritime states-- Gujarat, Maharashtra, Goa, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamilnadu, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and West Bengal, and 4 UTs-- Andaman & Nicobar, Puducherry, Lakshadweep and Daman & Diu as one of the measures for strengthening the security of the coastline of the country.

The scheme encompasses collection of specific items of information of each individual in the coastal areas and issue Resident Identity (smart) cards (RIC) to all usual residents, who are of age 18 years and above.

The card incorporates several physical security features like Guilloché patterns, hot stamped hologram and micro text. The electronic security features of the card include Key Management System (KMS) involving Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), and Symmetric Key Infrastructure (SKI).

The Union Home Minister P Chidambaram will initiate distribution of Resident Identity (smart) cards in Tamil Nadu on 23rd January, 2012.

A Consortium of Central Public Sector Undertakings comprising of Bharat Electronics (BEL), Electronics Corporation of India (ECIL) and Indian Telephone Industries (ITIL) was awarded the work of direct data collection, capture of photograph and ten fingerprints. Enumerators were assisted by data entry operators, provided by the CPSUs.

The production and personalization of the RIC cards have been undertaken through the CPSUs. They have setup state-of-the-art production and personalization facilities at secure premises for the coastal NPR project. The delivery of the RICs would be undertaken by India Post for secure delivery to the usual residents.