The government on Thursday sanctioned funds for the second phase of a scheme to allocate unique identity numbers to 10 crore people. The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), in a meeting chaired by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, approved the commencement of phase II of the scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 3,023.01 crore.
?Of this, an amount of Rs 477.11 crore would be allocated towards recurring establishment expenditure and Rs 2,545.90 crore towards non-recurring project related expenditure,? according to a government statement. The estimated cost includes project components for issue of 10 crore UID numbers by March 2011 and establishment costs for the project phase of five years ending March 2014. The first set of 10 crore UID numbers are expected to be issued between August 2010 and March 2011. Thereafter, 60 crore UID numbers are expected to be issued in next three years.
