JAMMU, Dec 11: The Jammu and Kashmir administration is planning to create an authentic database of all families in the Union territory with each of them having a unique alpha-numeric code — the objective being easy selection of eligible beneficiaries of various social welfare schemes.
The proposed move to allot ”Family ID” has been welcomed by the BJP but panned by other parties which raised concerns over personal data safety.
At the recent national conference on e-governance in Katra in Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal Khattar released the Digital J&K Vision Document, unveiling the government plan to create an authentic, verified and reliable database of all families of the Union territory.
According to the vision document, ”Each family will be provided with a unique alpha-numeric code called JK Family ID. The data available in the family database would be used to determine eligibility through automatic selection of beneficiaries for receiving social benefits.” ”The database would identify each and every family in J&K and would collect the basic data of the family, provided with the consent of the family, in a digital format.” The document further reads that all the applicable laws and regulations in respect of data protection shall be complied with in the management of data.
To thwart risks and protect sensitive and critical data, it said the Jammu and Kashmir government plans to work on an information security policy and also envisages formulation of appropriate cyber security framework.
Commissioner Secretary of the IT Department Prerna Puri said the objective of creating the database, which will be at par with Haryana’s ‘Parivaar Pehchaan Patra’, is that families or individuals will not have to apply to receive benefits under each individual scheme.
”Once the data in the JK Family ID database is authenticated and verified, a beneficiary will not be required to submit any more document to avail a service,” she said.
The Congress, National Conference and the PDP slammed the proposed move.
Congress chief spokesperson and former legislator Ravinder Sharma questioned the government’s intention and also its capacity to protect such digital databases from cyber attacks.
”Why does the government wish to peek into everything? They already have enough data through Aadhaar and are providing benefits through direct bank transfer (DBT) mode,” Sharma said.
Referring to cyber attacks by Chinese entities and ransomware attack on the AIIMS servers, he said in such a situation, protection of personal data of the people is a major challenge.
National Conference provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta termed the exercise ”unproductive use of resources”.
”They already have a database of every individual because of Aadhaar. So, creating another database is not fruitful…the administration is keeping the staff busy with data collection while people are left devoid of basic facilities,” he said.
The People’s Democratic Party (PDP) asked who the government wanted to identify through this database.
”There are a lot of problems in J&K which the government ignores. Now who the government is trying to identify through this database?” PDP leader Virendra Singh Sonu said.
However, the BJP welcomed the move and said the people who have to stand in queues to get various benefits and certificates will benefit once a verified database is prepared.
”The new database will be helpful in many ways as people have been alleging that Census 2011 was not correct and many people have been wrongly added under BPL category,” he said, adding a similar family database is already there in Haryana and so there is nothing to worry about.
The vision document itself acknowledges that in the absence of coherent policies relating to data security and privacy, the progress of digital transformation is bound to be slow and fraught with several risks.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Security, M Y Kichloo said vulnerabilities and possibilities of cyber attacks will remain when it comes to digital storage of data.
”We will face the same problems in Jammu and Kashmir which are faced across the country viz- a-viz data. Whenever a database is prepared by the government, an IT audit is conducted by experts,” he said.
As far as data protection is concerned, the officer said, the Jammu and Kashmir government will soon issue a notification under Section 70 of the Information Technology (IT) Act to declare all information structures of government offices and public sector undertakings as protected systems.
”In case of data breach, the quantum of punishment would be 10 years which would work as a deterrent,” Kichloo said.
Chief Town Planner of the Jammu Development Authority Jagdish Raj Hans said the exercise would be helpful in more ways than just extending benefits of government schemes.
”Currently, JDA is conducting a socio-economic survey for revising the master plan and a door-to-door survey of nearly 9,000 households is being undertaken with the help of a Delhi-based consultancy firm. If a bigger database with all social indicators of families of J&K becomes available, then we would not have to do this sample survey,” he said.
According to the vision document, over the next five years the government aims to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and equitability in the delivery of public services and all the functions of the government using emerging technologies.

JAMMU, Dec 11: Work on construction of the Tawi artificial lake here, which is aimed at giving a boost to tourism in Jammu province, has finally taken off after encountering scores of delays in the past 13 years.

The artificial lake and river front beautification work in the Tawi river will be completed at a cost of Rs 280 crore by April next year.

“If all goes as planned, the gated Tawi barrage project (artificial lake) would be completed by April 2023 along with ongoing work on other components of artificial lake, including river bank protection, development of Tawi river front on the pattern of Sabarmati”, Jammu Mayor Rajendra Sharma said.

“We should be happy that at least work has now started again (after many delays). It is a difficult task. But we hope it will be completed by the deadline”, he said. The Mayor said the lake will totally change the tourism landscape of Jammu.

“The lake at the entry point will have great attractions. It will beautify Jammu, which is known as the city of temples”, Sharma said.

Indiresh Prajapati, who is an expert on lake projects, said work is going on full swing.
“The bed work, channelisation of water, embankment constructions and diversions are being done. It is a difficult task,” he said.

The project, which was launched in 2009 by the Congress-NC government, has been marred by delays, missing as many as seven deadlines, before work came to a standstill in 2018.
The state government has spent more than Rs 58 crore on the project in the past decade, after its foundation stone was laid by the then Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on December 5, 2009.

After missing the first target date in 2022, the contractor missed deadlines in 2012, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017 and 2018 when the work stopped.

In 1986, then Governor Jagmohan gave his approval to the lake project. The state government began the construction project in 2008-09 after much delay.
As per the project plan, an auto-mechanical barrage would be constructed on river Tawi, one km downstream of main Tawi bridge, the officials said.

“This will help create an artificial lake at Belicharana.The 1,500-metre-long and 600-metre-wide artificial lake, a first-of-its-kind here, will give a new dimension to tourism in Jammu city”, the Mayor said.

He said the proposed gated barrage on Tawi is one of the three sub-projects of the lake project that was conceptualised to give a boost to regional tourism in Jammu by creating recreational activities like boating and water sports, besides enhancing the overall aesthetic look of the city.

The other two sub-projects, viz Tawi river development project and beautification and creation of tourist facilities are to be executed by the housing and urban development department and tourism department, respectively, they said.

The project, which was originally sanctioned at a cost of ₹70 crore by dovetailing funds from various sources, was stalled on account of the contractor’s “inactivity” for seven years leading to cancellation of awarded tender and related cost escalation, they said.

The administrative council has sanctioned the revised project at an estimated cost of Rs 131.53 crore which includes additional grant of ₹73.34 crore and already incurred expenditure of ₹58.19 crore, while construction of the Sabarmati-type river front will cost the government 150 crore, they said.

“The work for Tawi river front has been started at a cost of Rs 150 crore and will be completed in 18 months period. The work is going on pace at the left bank, right bank and island of river Tawi”, CEO, Smart City Jammu Ltd, Rahul Yadav said.
About the delay, he said earlier there was no tender in place. “Now the tender is in place. There is funding meant for the project and work is going at a fast pace. Work will be completed as per the deadline. It is a prestigious project for Jammu and its tourism aspect”, he said.

On completion, the project will promote water recreation and sporting facilities besides boosting commercial activities around the artificial lake which will create employment opportunities for locals and attract tourists to Jammu city.

Local Vikas Raina said he is looking forward to the city having an artificial lake.
“I was 20 when this project started in 2013. But it has crossed six-seven deadlines. With the new beginning on the project, we hope the project will be completed by April next year”, Raina said.