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Biometric NICs will take another 2 years: Minister
Sri Lankan citizens will have to wait another two years before the new biometric National Identity Card (NIC) is issued, Internal Affairs Minister S.B. Nawinne told the Sunday Times last week.
He said that, although Finance Minister Ravi Karunayake wants it done early, there are legal issues that have to be met
“We cannot do it immediately,” he said.
In explanation, he said that Cabinet approval has been obtained for the issuance of biometric NICs, but the proposal has to be presented in Parliament, debated, open to public comments and discussed; and tenders would have to be called for before it is implemented.
| Registered Studios to be contracted for photographs The Dept of Registration of Persons said it will soon be calling for applications from registered studios islandwide to be contracted to take photographs as per ICAO standards, for the new NICs. He said the Dept will be providing studios with the necessary expertise and training, through the Information and Technology Agency (ICTA), to take photographs for the proposed biometric NICs. He said that applications were called twice before, by the previous government, but was abandoned. The last time it called for applicants the Dept received around 2,000 applications, he said. |
The biometric NIC was first mooted by the previous Government and approved by the then Cabinet. But it was not implemented with the change of government on January 8, 2015.
Dept of Registration of Persons, Commissioner General (CG), Sarath Kumara confirmed that his department will not be ready to issue the biometric NICs by January 2016.
He said the Dept has to go through preparatory procedures before issuing the cards, which would involve training his staff serving in 331 units islandwide. “In the north and east alone we have 827 development officers being trained for this purpose,” he said.
He dwelt on the mammoth task of issuing 15.5 million people with new NICs within a short period. But on a positive note he said this can be achieved with the cooperation of all stakeholders.
| Biometric NICs will be charged for The Dept of Registration of Persons intends to charge a fee for the new biometric NICs. The Commissioner General said that, due to the huge cost involved, proposals have been submitted to charge for the new NICs. At present, the Dept charges only Rs 3 for a new NIC and Rs 15 to replace lost cards or cards with amendments to names and professions. He said, earlier moves in 2000 to increase the fee for new NICs to Rs 100, and charge Rs 1,000 for changes in personal details and Rs 2,000 to replace lost NICs, had been abandoned due to opposition from various quarters. However, he insisted a fee has to be applied. “We need to change,” he said. |
Describing the biometric NICs, he said that they will be made according to the standards stipulated by the International Civil Aviation Organisation, with the inclusion of biometrics which will include a Machine Assisted Identity of the face and the fingerprint of the person.
Contrary to common belief, he said, the card will not hold any chip, but all personal details of the person will be placed in a Central Data Base System (CDBS) that would be linked to several depts, for easy data access regarding the persons.
This will include the Dept of Emigration and Immigration, Dept of Registrar of Motor Vehicles, Customs Dept, Dept of Inland Revenue and Banks.
It is learnt that all relevant institutions will have portable machines to confirm the identity of persons.
Additionally, there are plans to include the names of immediate family members of the person, in order to create a family tree. Accordingly, single applicants will have to provide details of parents and siblings in their family, while married persons will provide names of spouse/s and children.
“Also, individuals who wish to provide details of other next of kin will be encouraged to do so,” he said.
Meanwhile, all newborn children’s data will be included in the system, and at age 15 years they will be issued with biometric NICs.
The biometric NIC will have a 35×45 mm photograph, similar to that in passports. The numbering system will also differ from the present 9 to 12 digits.
This will include the year in full (say 2015) instead of only the last two digits of the year, with the next three digits indicating the day the person was born together with the gender. The next five digits will be the serial number provided by the Dept.
The CG said the application forms will have a separate slip for placing the fingerprints. Currently the Dept issues 500,000 cards annually, and with the new cards it intends to issue an additional 500,000, totaling to 1 million a year.
The transition process is expected to be slow, with people being wary of the change. “This will give time for people to get accustomed to the new biometric NICs,” he said.
Commenting on the opposition to the provision of personal details by some parties, he said that people readily provide information about themselves when they want to travel overseas.
“The USA and the UK insist on imaging the iris of persons traveling to their countries,” he added.