Family Pehchan Patra (FPP)

Why in News?

• Recently, The Government of India has decided to introduce a Family Pehchan Patra (FPP) for residents of the Union Territory of Jammu & Kashmir.

Highlights

• The FPP will be an identity card with a unique 8-digit alphanumeric number (like in a PAN Card) to identify each family and its members through the head of the family.
• It will be a single Identifier for every family and individual in the UT unlike the Aadhar card which contains information about an individual only.
• The card will contain details of all members of the family, including their names, ages, qualifications, employment status, etc. and will be linked with the Aadhaar and bank account number of the head of the family
• The FPP aims to create an authentic, verified, and reliable database of families in J&K to ensure speedy and transparent doorstep delivery of welfare schemes to eligible beneficiaries.
• As per the Government, the database will be created only with the consent of the family. However, the families that do not consent to having a family card will likely face practical difficulties in availing benefits of the welfare schemes.
• Subsidised rations through the Targeted Public Distribution System (PDS) under the National Food Security Act, free medical treatment, old age/ widow/family pensions, help to victims of militancy, scholarships, etc. will all be linked with the family ID card.
• The opposition parties have criticised the idea of a FPP describing it as a ‘surveillance tool’ to keep a watch on Kashmiris.
• They claim the “unique family IDs” as a symbol of widening trust deficit on the people of J&K.
• The proposed unique IDs were criticised as a waste of time and resources and were not needed as a similar system – Aadhar – already exists.
• There are also concerns regarding the ability of the government in protecting the personal data of the residents in the wake of recent cyber and ransomware attacks by Chinese entities.