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Nandan Nilekani lauds Bihar’s e-governance initiatives

PATNA — Infosys co-founder and Chairman of India’s Unique Identification Database (UID) project Nandan Nilekani, praised the e-governance work and the initiatives taken by the Bihar government.

“The government has given importance to e-governance. It is a positive sign,” Nilekani said here after holding a meeting with top government officials Tuesday.

“I am happy with what I was told of the initiatives taken for e-governance by the government in Bihar,” Nilekani added. He also expressed satisfaction that work on the UID project was going in the right direction. Nilekani is visiting Bihar to discuss with officials the preparation for issuing of identity cards to people under India’s UID project.

He also met Chief Minister Nitish Kumar Tuesday afternoon at his official residence and lauded Bihar for introducing e-shakti, a smart card, for labourers covered under NREGA.

To a question, Nilekani, said the authority would begin providing the 16-digit number to the people of Bihar in the next 18 months. About half of the country’s total population will get their unique identification numbers in the next five and half years, he said after meeting the CM in Patna.

Over 600 million people would get the numbers, he told reporters here.

- AGENCIES