Nilekani takes over as head of UIAI

New Delhi, July 23 (PTI) Infosys co-founder Nandan
Nilekani on Thursday took over as head of the Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIAI) which has been tasked
to create a national database of identity details of citizens.

Nilekani said the first set of database will be ready
in 12 to 18 months time as announced by Union Finance Minister
Pranab Mukherjee in his budget speech.

"We will be issuing the first set of identification
numbers in 12 to 18 months," he told reporters here.

Nilekani said Ram Sevak Sharma, a 1978 batch Jharkhand
cadre IAS officer, will take over as Secretary and CEO of the
organisation.

Nilekani, who was appointed as head of UIAI on July
13, said it will take few weeks for them to "get the team
together"

"We will use biometrics....but we still have not
decided what that set will be," he said.

"It will take us few weeks to stabilise and figure out
the team size. It will take us few weeks to get our thoughts
together," he added. PTI