National ID card
‘Fees for national ID Cards Set'- This news published in the front page of The Daily Star on 22nd Oct 2007 took me aback. I was rather shocked seeing the government's series of unwise and thoughtless steps regarding national ID cards. National ID is surely a big buzz word for those involved in this project in our government, but it's part of my profession. It does not make sense to me; we have not even started the groundwork for the National ID card and how on earth we can set the price tag to the National ID card. Excuse my loud and facts-based assumption! It seems the National ID card project is going to be another breeding ground for corruption! Now, I'm shocked reading that government is proposing to sell plastic (PVC) card @ Tk 250.00 (two hundred and fifty) whose buying cost is only Tk. 5.00 (Taka five only). How can you even think of imposing such high price on the poor people of Bangladesh? Do you mean to say that you are planning to prepare the National ID card only for the rich people! How can poor people afford to spend Tk 500.00 for each family member for a smart card? By the way, will Bangladesh be ready or fit to use the National ID card even by next 10 years? The way I see it, with my 20 years of local and international IT experience, the governments of Bangladesh failed in the past and failing now to develop a modern IT based infrastructure. The governments failed to develop even a basic IT infrastructure in Bangladesh. In our country, a large number of people even do not have a pocket to carry a National ID card and you're proposing them to buy a ID card @ Tk 250 or @Tk 500.00! Very well, I'm sure there is a group of money mongers around the government to mislead them. Remember, whatever you do now, will have to be answered today or tomorrow to the people. A correct technology and process could easily prevent fake vote casting but the government has not taken any steps to have such a system. Whatever, the EC is doing now, means nothing more than printing a voter's information with picture on an A4 size paper. So, why are you wasting money if you can't ensure prevention of fake voting or registration from more than one area by a single person? Currently, the government is taking finger prints of each voter; well I don't know why! Finger print does not help unless you can cross match the finger prints to ensure unique identity of the user. Have you taken any opinion from anyone as to what it means to cross match so many finger prints across the country? Can the government answer the following questions: (1) What's the process of reissuing a voter/national ID card when that is lost or some major data is modified? (2) How long is it going to take to reissue a card? (3) How a person living in a remote village going to reapply for a card? (4) How are you going to make use of a smart card for so called privileges of National ID card? A few suggestions for the government: (1) Please hire some real experts with vast experience on the subject. (2) Take your time to analyse all the elements involved in the process of implementing National ID card, its management, and its procurement throughout the year and about its usage. This will help you to find the right technology and the people who can do it (3) Align your current plan with the country's future plan so that you don't waste money by throwing away old technology and implementing new ones. (4) Determine the permanent organisations/government offices you shall need in order to manage this huge project (5) Now, do an end to end budget analysis. These steps will help you make a feasibility study. Finally, prioritize critical issues of the country compared to the National ID card to find what get the highest priority. Well, finally if you really want to do it, then involve the right people, technology and process, keeping the future of the country and the people in mind.
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