By IANS,
New Delhi : The government Monday said there was no cut in funds allocated for the rollout of the unique identification numbers and the programme will be expeditiously implemented.
“Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee has clarified that the ministry of finance is fully committed to expeditious implementation of the unique identification project and all funds required for the smooth roll-out of the project by the authority will be provided,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
The clarification came after media reports said the government has decided to slash the budget for the unique identification project by more than half from the estimated Rs.7,000 crore to only Rs.3,000 crore.
Unique identification authority use the national population register to ensure that every Indian above the age of 15 gets a single identity number, which will help him access a variety of governmental and private-sector services. And in the times of global terrorism, it will help identify Indian citizens from illegal immigrants and terrorists.
The national population register is a database of the people of India, for which the national census is on.