NC says it is an utter wastage of resources, time and money

Srinagar: PDP president Mehbooba Mufti on Monday said the Jammu and Kashmir administration’s plan to create a unique family ID’ for residents of the Union Territory was emblematic of the widening “trust deficit” after the 2019 abrogation of Article 370.
The former chief minister said Kashmiris are viewed with suspicion and dubbed the unique family ID as another “surveillance tool”.
“Creating a unique family ID’ for J&K residents is emblematic of the widening trust deficit esp post 2019,” Mufti tweeted.
“Kashmiris are viewed with deep suspicion & this is another surveillance tactic to tighten the iron grip on their lives,” she added.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration is planning to create an authentic database of all families in the Union Territory with each of them having a unique alpha-numeric code, the objective being easy selection of eligible beneficiaries of various social welfare schemes.
The proposed move to allot “Family ID” has been welcomed by the BJP but slammed by other parties which raised concerns over personal data safety.
At the recent national conference on e-governance in Katra in Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar released the ‘Digital J&K Vision Document’, unveiling the government plan to create an authentic, verified and reliable database of all families of the Union Territory.
According to the vision document, “Each family will be provided with a unique alpha-numeric code called JK Family ID. The data available in the family database would be used to determine eligibility through automatic selection of beneficiaries for receiving social benefits.”
Similarly, National Conference said the proposed issuance of unique IDs to families across Jammu and Kashmir is not needed and that the government should instead focus more on effective deliverance of existing schemes.
Echoing the sentiments of people, the party’s Chief Spokesperson Tanvir Sadiq said that there is already a web of government issued documents to people through which government agencies determine the identification and subsequent eligibility of beneficiaries for receiving various social welfare benefits and schemes.
“Why is such an exercise needed in the first place? There is already enough data available with the government agencies in terms of Adhaar through which benefits like direct bank transfer (DBT) are reaching to end beneficiaries. It’s an utter wastage of resources, time and money. At a time, when the government’s attention should be focused on fixing the development deficit, administrative inertia and unemployment, it’s focussing on such non-issues,” he said.
“Such proposed exercise should not be a priority of the government while as there are many basic issues which have not been attended to,” Tanvir said adding, “Until and unless the administration does not explain the need for such an exercise when we have other ID’s for exactly the same purpose, the proposed measure would only create more suspicion. At present the government agencies, men and machinery should be attending the winter emergencies. Keeping the staff busy with data collection, and leaving people hanker for basic facilities makes no sense.”

  Kashmir 370

KR Desk