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System delivery and national identity system

The NID numbers are not being verified. As there is no means to verify, there is effectively no way to stop either graft or any means to ascertain that goods or services destined for target segments of society are actually reaching the intended recipients.

Syed Mansur Hashim
IN 2007, the Election Commission Bangladesh (EC) began preparation of a landmark project called 'Preparation of electoral roll with photographs.' The government started issuing national identity cards (NID) when the electoral roll was completed. This was a very credible database, i.e. data captured was done with a high degree of accuracy. Each card included the name, father's / husband's name, date of birth, address, and voter's area in the voter list. Those were the findings of an independent UNDP audit of the programme in 2008.
Following this, the EC designed an intervention named "Identification system for Enhancing Access to Services (IDEA)" in 2011. The newly formed National Identity Registry Wing (NIDW) under EC is responsible for implementing the whole NID system. The financing worth $195million has been mobilised through a multilateral agency. IDEA aims at introducing ID verification system for service delivery. National Board of Revenue (NBR) was the first agency to access the ID verification system as it launched the e-TIN on July, 2013. This is the first of this kind of verification system between two public sector agencies.
Using the system, a citizen requires using his / her NID number to convert his / her TIN to e-TIN or obtain a new e-TIN. The whole process is completed in a matter of minutes and can be done by logging on to the NBR website. According to a report published in The Daily Star on July 2, NBR, there are 3.3million citizens having TINs. Ironically, when NBR prepared the e-TIN system, it cleaned up the database and found that 1.7million were/d/ce TINs. These fake TINs were used to avail different services / privileges by dishonest people.
IDEA has also signed an MOU with Bangladesh Bank. Similar verification service will soon likely to be introduced for the Bureau of Statistics' Poverty Registry database and Machine Readable Passport. Such systems have been used successfully in the region. India's system, known asAadhaar (meaning "foundation" in several Indian languages) is a unique digital identification programme that aims to provide the nation's 1.2 billion residents with a digital proof of identity. Using a digital proof of identity, the system "matches with 99.99% accuracy millions of names every night against the al ready-registered 300 million identities to ensure there are no duplicates." In Pakistan, National Database and Registry Authority has introduced IT based smart National ID card. This smart card has multi-dimensional usage and services; it includes social and financial programmes like easy pension disbursement. Nepal has also started its NID system. The advantages associated with digital ID verification system are obvious. It will help reduce costs in service delivery and make services more accessible to poor people. For the government, it will aid in disciplining the financial sector as is already evident with NBR. Equally important is its impact on promoting good governance, in terms of improving efficiency, increasing citizen's satisfaction and reducing corruption.
Yet, there have been problems in the implementation of the NID scheme in Bangladesh. Presently, only people over 18 years of age will get NID number. This bar effectively excludes the system to be used effectively for system delivery on programmes (e.g. health-related programmes designed for minors). There is also no linkage with Birth and Death Registry system run by local government ministry. Furthermore, the existing National Identity Registry Act (NIRA 2010) could not be fully operationalised since 'Rules and Regulations' are yet to be finalised.
The end result of these "gaps" is multifarious. Agencies from both private and public sectors are asking people to show their ID cards for accessing services. Yet, the NID numbers are not being verified. As there is no means to verify, there is effectively no way to stop either graft or any means to ascertain that goods or services destined for target segments of society are actually reaching the intended recipients. Given this "hole" in the system, it is only natural that fake NID cards are popping up on the radar.
Yesterday, the cabinet cleared some crucial amendments to the NID Act. It is expected that the September 2013 session of parliament will pass the Bill. Of the many key features of the amendment, some need to be highlighted. It proposes to include data privacy and protection clauses for NID verification and data sharing between EC and other agencies. Bringing the crucial change, in that, no citizen will be excluded from services until all have a NID card. A smart card is only 'smart' when the NID number of each citizen is a unique NID number (will eliminate current trend of duplication). Of all the changes highlighted here, it is imperative that the scope of NID verification system be expanded to include more service delivery agencies without further delay.
The writer is Assistant Editor, The Daily Star.