India Introduces New Maritime Security Gadget

The Union Home Minister Shri Rajnath Singh formally handed over Resident Identity Card (RIC) readers on Wednesday to Admiral R.K.Dhowan, Chief of Naval Staff and Vice Admiral Anurag G Thapliyal, Director General (Coast Guard) in the presence of Defence Minister Shri Manohar Parrikar. 

One of the measures to strengthen coastal security was the creation of National Population Registrar (NPR) in 3,331 coastal villages in the 9 maritime states and 4 UTs and issue of Resident Identity Cards (RIC). The scheme of issuing Resident Identity Cards is being implemented by the Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India. Under the scheme more than 65 lakh people have been issued Resident Identity Card. 

The Smart Card readers are capable of demographic and biometric authentication on an offline mode and are manufactured indigenously by M/s ITI Limited & M/s Electronics Corporation of India Limited (ECIL). 

The Card readers work on the principle of Key Management System and the cards can be read only when the key present in the RIC is authenticated by the Verification Authentication (VA) card. 

The RIC reader is tamper-proof and self-destructs if it is opened in an unauthorized manner. The card reader has been put through sea-trials by the Navy and Coast Guard. 

The office of Registrar and Census Commission has incorporated all the suggestion given by the Navy and Coast Guard in the designing of the RICs. These cards readers will initially be issued to the Navy and Coast Guard and later to the Maritime Police stations and State Governments. 

Secretary (BM) Smt. Sneh Lata Kumar, Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India, Dr. C. Chandramouli and Senior Officers of MHA and MoD were present on the occasion.