Tamil Nadu's DMK govt to introduce 'Makkal ID'; BJP expresses corruption concerns

Tamil Nadu's Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) government, led by MK Stalin, is getting ready to roll out 'Makkal ID', a special kind of individual identification system for the residents of the state for seamless implementation of government schemes. 

According to the news agency ANI, the Tamil Nadu e-Governance Agency has requested a proposal for the selection of system integrators for the implementation and upkeep of master data management (MDM) and De-duplicate tool for the state family database (SFDB) in Tamil Nadu.

The Makkal ID will be a randomly generated 12-digit number and not a pattern-based number, as per reports. 

The latest plan put out by the Tamil Nadu government, however, has sparked political debate as the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) dubbed it a "replica of Aadhaar" and expressed concerns about corruption.

“They said that the principle of the identification card is similar to Aadhaar. What is the need for introducing a card scheme similar to Aadhaar, which is a foolproof system and helped get rid of corruption largely. If the government wants to give subsidies through direct benefit transfer, they can use Aadhaar. Huge corruption was happening in the central government schemes where fake beneficiaries were getting money but after DBT, everything is fine now and it has saved 2.5 lakh crore for the country. There is no need for implementing any other system now,” Narayan Thirupathy, Tamil Nadu BJP’s Vice-President said. 

What is Makkal ID?

Makkal ID is a single Aadhaar-enabled database for all citizens. All departments that provide services to residents will have access to this repository. It will aid the government in more precise targeting, efficient service delivery, increased accountability, and effective programme monitoring.

Makkal ID enables the state to manage complete State Level Resident Data in a digitised, centralised and secured manner. Utilise the Aadhaar number to uniquely identify citizens (the beneficiaries of different schemes implemented by the government). Integrate Aadhaar-enabled National Population Register (NPR) data with departmental utility databases on a real-time basis. Incorporate Aadhaar authentication into various departments, according to the official website of the Information Technology and Digital Services Department of the government of Tamil Nadu.