The scheme to issue multipurpose national identity cards to people living along the country’s coastline will start next month. The Registrar General of India will initiate data collection in select districts of six of India’s13 coastal states in the second week of July.
The RGI will issue the smart MNICs to individuals of age 18 and over, who are usual residents of the villages. After collation of the data, a Local Register of Usual Residents will be put up for scrutiny in the villages.
The MNIC project was one of the measures suggested to strengthen coastline security following the terror attacks in Mumbai.
The Home Ministry plans to cover 1.2 crore people in coastal states through a two-phase programme ending January 2010. Seven more states will be taken up after the monsoon in August, sources said.
Bharat Electronics Limited will fabricate the cards, bearing digitized basic data, digital photo and finger biometrics, and holograms.