‘Bureaucracy doing its best to waste Nadra’s wealth of data’

LAHORE: There are a few countries that have as much irrefutable data on health, education and economy as is available in Pakistan; unfortunately successive governments have failed to benefit from this huge wealth.

It all started when Nadra at the start of the century started documenting the educational and health status of every applicant of the computerised national identity card (CNIC). The institution, feeling proud of the feat, decided to segregate data on the basis of each national assembly constituency.

It then placed this data at the disposal of the members of national assembly elected in 2003. This was done with the hope that the public representatives on the basis of this data would be able to ask for development projects based on deficiencies in their respective constituencies. This hope unfortunately did not materialise.

Had members gone through the data, they would have at least found which type of human disability was persistent in their constituency and what was the level of unemployment and education. Nadra on its own released the data from Chitral, which revealed the region has the highest percentage of blinds in Pakistan.

Further study revealed that there was no eye specialist in the government hospitals of that district. An eye specialist was appointed in that district after publication of this report.

The MNA of that region should have asked the government to find out the reason for the high level of blindness in the region.

Similarly, in constituencies where incidences of intellectual disabilities were higher among children, there was no special school. The representative could have pleaded the government to establish a special school.

During the same period, Nadra opened kiosks where consumers could pay their utility bills by inserting the currency notes of the required amount into the machine. The system was accessible through the CNIC and was subjected to verification of finger print.

This was a great facility under which a registered power, gas or telephone bill could be paid from any Nadra kiosk in the country. Labourers or workers in Karachi for instance could deposit their utility bills generated in Gilgit from the Nadra kiosk in Karachi.

The system did not work to its potential as the related value-added services planned by Nadra through CNIC and kiosk never materialised due to bureaucratic hurdles.

One of the value-added services operates these kiosks as a small saving bank for the poor. Under the scheme, a Karachi or Lahore-based worker from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could deposit the amount he/she sends monthly to the family in the kiosk under his CNIC.

The system allowed him to authorise his son or wife who have a CNIC to collect the amount from a Nadra kiosk in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Their other option was to shop at the utility store and get the balance back from the store.

The software was made and is still available, but bureaucratic hurdles killed the scheme.

At that time, Nadra had also introduced a system to check vehicles plying on the roads of each city by affixing a chip on the windscreen at a cost of Rs1,000 only. It was the cheapest way to eliminate car theft.

Cars coming from outside the city would automatically be checked at each entrance point of the city, and those leaving the city along with the chip required showing permission of the owner. Currently, consumers pay Rs20,000-25,000 to car security firms per year that poorer consumers cannot afford.

The data regulatory authority then conducted random checking of 1,000 vehicles in Islamabad. It found that in some cases, cars from the same manufacturer had the same chassis number.

One car for instance was sold in Karachi and the other in Islamabad. Nadra suggested biometric chassis numbers for all car manufacturers.

The number provided by NADRA would keep electronic check on each purchase and sales of the vehicle. It also sought the permission to collect the excise tax on vehicles through this transparent system and to transfer the taxes to each province based on the registration of the vehicle.

This proposal was opposed tooth and nail by all provincial excise departments and the vehicle manufacturers. The transparency ensured through this system was not in their interest.

All major economic transactions require verified CNIC numbers of the buyers and sellers. All properties, vehicles, hotel accommodations, foreign and local air tickets need verified CNIC numbers.

The data of wealth of each individual is available, but the Federal Board of Revenue hesitates in using this irrefutable information.