Unique ID cards for Indian citizens: Govt

New Delhi, Jan 27: A unique identity card for Indian citizens has been planned by a high-powered Government committee to curb illegal immigration.

"....one way of dealing with this issue (of illegal immigration) is by means of a citizen's identity number or card," the second Administrative Reforms Commission (ARC) report on promoting e-governance has said.

In the wake of reports of a large number of Bangladeshi immigrants and terrorists sneaking into the country from border, the decision was taken.

The Centre has already launched a pilot project for a 'Multi-purpose National Identity Card (MNIC)' in select areas of 13 districts in 12 states and one Union Territory.

One of the aims of the project is "to act as a deterrent for future illegal immigration".

Some of the districts covered under the project are Karimganj (Assam), Kathua (Jammu Kashmir), Kachchh (Gujarat), Jaisalmer (Rajasthan), Pithoragarh (Uttarakhand), West Tripura (Tripura), Murshidabad (West Bengal) and Ramanathapuram (Tamil Nadu).

"Thus this project has focused on select border areas of the country with illegal immigration in mind," it said.

The report said the need for such a card has been considered necessary "not only for security reasons, but also for delivery of services to citizens and taking the development programmes to the target population".

OneIndia News (With inputs from Agencies)