ICT

'ePopulation Register' project launched

The 'ePopulation Register' project was launched by Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister John Seneviratne at the Colombo Divisional Secretariat recently. Associated with Minister Seneviratne in the launch was Senior Minister for Urban Affairs A. H. M. Fowzie andTelecommunication and Information Technology Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitiya.

ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA) sources said that this was another national project under the eSri Lanka Development Programme implemented under the guidance of President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Speaking on this occasion Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister John Seneviratne said that this project was an epoch-making project. "It will contribute to making the benefits of ICT be reflected in providing public service to the people in such a comfortable manner as has not been done ever before."

Underlining the manner the ePopulation Register Project stands out among several other past ICT-based projects the Public Administration and Home Affairs Minister said: "In the future information related to all births, marriages and deaths occurring in Sri Lanka will be incorporated into a computerised information system at the time the incidents are registered. Thanks to the ePopulation Register project, with the implementation of this new information system every citizen born in this country will be assigned a special identification code number. It will be possible to use this number in all future Government services for the person concerned not only in one Department but in all relevant Government Departments / institutions",

Addressing the gathering briefly but most earnestly Telecommunication and IT Minister Ranjith Siyambalapitya underlined the importance of making maximum use of ICT to make lives of people more comfortable. "The ePopulation Register project will do away with the past difficulties. There have been times when people used to come to Colombo from far distant places like Moneragala travelling the previous night just to be told to come on another day". The ePopulation Register will assign a number to each Sri Lankan at the very birth registration which could be used for several of his other future needs for public service.

An insight into the facility that this project will bring about could be had by a look at the format of two of the forms developed for use under this project, namely form for the "birth certificate" and "certificate issued for the registration of a person in the population".

Speaking on this occasion ICTA CEO Reshan Dewapura said: "I think it will be useful on this occasion when a project that is very important and useful to all Sri Lankans is launched that a brief introduction is given.

"The 'ePopulation Register' is the main IT database containing primary data of this country's citizens. While this ePopulation Register is very important for making more efficient the services the Government provides to the public, it enables Government institutions to exchange citizen information safely and speedily. While with the introduction of the ePopulation Register, the method of registering of individual birth certificate becomes simple, the difficulties up to now experienced will be no more.

The actual operation of this 'ePopulation' project, jointly implemented by the Public Administration and Home Affairs Ministry and the Telecommunication and Information Technology Ministry, was carried out by the Registrar General's Department and ICT Agency of Sri Lanka (ICTA).

Referring to the objectives of the ePopulation Register project, ICTA CEO said:

"The objective of the project is to create and maintain a single source of consolidated citizen information in order for the Government to verify the identities of citizens before providing Government centric services".

Describing the project's salient features Dewapura said: "It will be a National Database of citizen information that will be accurate, reliable and current. Such information will be accessed by authorised Government institutions that offer many citizen services. It will facilitate information sharing between Government institutions, and notify changes to dynamic information held within the system, while simultaneously protecting the privacy rights of each citizen by introducing necessary controls.

It also will facilitate verification of information, especially the verification of identity of individuals who seek citizen centric services from various Government institutions.

The civil registration of the life events is used to create this main database.

Referring to the output of the project ICTA CEO said:

"The main output of the ePopulation Register will be the issuing of a unique National Personal Identification Number (Sri Lanka Identification Number - SLIN) at birth for every Sri Lankan. Apart from generating the PIN (SLIN), ePopulation Register will also disseminate basic information about the citizen to a host of other Government institutions on a need to know basis to provide citizen centric services. The basic information captured includes full name, date of birth, marital status, gender, address and place of birth"

Moving on to dwell on the benefits of the project Dewapura underlined the following:-

Streamlined Government procedures with respect to citizens' services; easily accessible information regardless of location of access; increased efficiency in Government agencies and other players enacting programmes requiring citizens' data by re-engineering Government institutions; transparency and user friendliness in the procedures of governance. Scope and rationale for the ePopulation Register Project Moving on to describe the Scope of the ePopulation Register Project and the need of the project Dewapura said: "In Sri Lanka, citizen records are mostly maintained manually in Government agencies and are not readily accessible to other Government agencies, thus resulting in a duplication of effort, time and costs. For example, the Registrar General's Department (RGD) is responsible for the registration of births, deaths and marriages and captures such details as and when these life events occur.