India registration project hits political roadblocks
13 November, 2009
category: Biometrics, Government
Nandan Nilekani, former co-chairman of biometrics developer Infosys and now heading up India’s biometric registration project, has reported that he is playing a much different role than he is used to, according to a Wall Street Journal article.
Nilekani says rather than depending on his technical skills and knowledge to get things done he is serving much more as a politician talking and presenting to those whom he needs their support. The project that Nilekani is heading up for the Indian Government involves registering the fingerprints of every citizen in the country in a way to ensure services are reaching their poorest citizens who often don’t have access to official forms of identity.
Some, however, are depending on Nilekani and watching him closely in hopes that he will find a new way to navigate India’s bureaucracy in such a manner that could change the way things get done there. Moreover, some are hopeful that his success could have other high-profile businessmen in the country take a more active role in politics.
Despite the troubled waters that Nilekani has been forced to navigate, he says that everything is still on track to be finished within the timeline they set out for themselves, though he is constantly looking at new technologies across the world to determine if anything could help them even more.
Read the full story here.