E-shakti to help Bihar job seekers

Mishra said the distribution of the cards started from Bhusaula under Danapur block in Patna district,besides a gram panchayat in Phulwarisharif block of Patna district on May 7,2010.

For the next few days,e-shakti cards will be distributed in lots in Phulwarisharif block and take a period of around one month to cover the entire block.

It would thereafter be gradually distributed in the entire Patna district,meeting a figure of 13 and half lakh cards.

The e-shakti project8217;s data collection exercise would cover districts which included Patna,Vaishali,Muzaffarpur and Nalanda and others.

The registration process for these cards is cost-free and any adult can get himself enrolled during the village-wise registration/data collection exercise carried out by Smaarftech official,he said.

The e-shakti would be used by the individual with hand-held machine for authentication,attendance and other transaction using secure biometric technology,Mishra said.

A separate bank account would be opened for each card holder to facilitate wage payment under NREGA-Bihar through e-shakti cards.

8220;Alongside,branch-less banking services are also being made available to the e-shakti card holders in partnership with the Central Bank of India,8221; he said.

In the first few weeks,the speed of card distribution was kept moderate to carefully monitor the difficulties which the process might face.