Crucial data

LAHORE: Pakistan is perhaps the only unfortunate country that is not benefitting from complete information about every citizen regarding age, education, occupation, skills, ailments, and economic dealings.

Using this information prudently would reduce poverty, increase revenues and accelerate development work. The identification of the majority of Pakistanis through bios technology has provided the country with an opportunity to document all economic transactions through the bios data incorporated in the computerised national identity cards.

It has now been made mandatory to produce CNIC for the purchase of vehicles, registration of vehicles, registration of property, collection of motor vehicle tax, or issuance of licences.

They also have to produce their CNIC for the purchase of air and railways tickets, for accommodation at all hotels and clubs. These are vital information that makes it possible for the government to identify the type of development needed in any particular region of the country or even down to each national assembly constituency of Pakistan.

This information if prudently used lay threadbare the wealth and resources of an individual, as well as identifying each increase or decline in his/her wealth. It is also mandatory to provide CNIC credentials along with thumb impressions to the banks for opening and operating an account.

All registered businesses have to provide the CNIC number of the owners, sponsors, partners, shareholders. The hospital bills and educational fees also need the CNIC number of the paying person. The city district governments have the details of the ownership of each and every property in their jurisdiction from the database of the National Database Registration Authority.

The concerned circles that are supposed to do transactions by identifying individuals through their CNIC should transfer every transition, change ownership, purchase of sale record to NADRA where it is automatically incorporated in the CNIC of that person.

The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has been provided access to wealth and monetary transactions by every citizen to check whether the individual had the legal resources to buy a property or start a big project. This information; thus, collected has not paid any dividends to the national exchequer because of the lethargic attitudes of tax collectors, absence of political will, and perhaps because the entire record is not transferred to the central and is not transferred to a central database.

This non-consolidation of the record they added cost the country billions of rupees in tax evasion. These lapses could be overcome through technology and administrative measures by bringing to book those that failed to transfer the data to the central database.

NADRA that issues the CNICs has some data about the health, education, disability, and income status of the cardholder. The information; however, pertains to the time when an individual applied for CNIC. The authority cannot upgrade the information periodically.

However, they added upgradation of this record and other statistical data is possible if it is strictly ensured to transfer all that data that is passed through public and private institutions in which the CNIC is used.

Some functions like the collection of yearly road tax on vehicles, registration of vehicles, and issuance of licences could be transferred to NADRA that has the capacity and capability to perform these functions more effectively due to its presence in every corner of the country.

The authority has the technology to effectively eliminate bogus registrations, ensure full compliance with the road tax, and issue licences to individuals after police approval.

This capability was demonstrated on numerous occasions to the past governments, but could not be implemented due to the hurdles created by vested interests. During the Musharaf regime, the provinces agreed to hand over the registration of vehicles, their tracking, and vehicle taxes to NADRA after flaws in the provincial excise departments were pointed out, but the resistance from corrupt elements did not let it implemented, because huge opportunities for corruption exist in registration, vehicle tax collection, and licences.

Modern technology could easily resolve the issue of an immediate transfer of these collections to provinces because these are provincial taxes. The system could be designed that would ensure the transfer of the amount under each head to the required province.

Experts believe that the taxes of all provinces would multiply under this head and the provinces would benefit, but those minting illegal money would suffer.

The same record of payment made would also be transferred to the central database and could be used during the assessment of the final tax liabilities of each individual. The property purchase and transfer are mandatory through CNIC, but the data collected is not automatically passed on to a central database, which should be done now. Hundreds of billions are parked under Benami properties at the moment that would be documented once the CNICs are made compulsory for the identification of owners.

Another aspect that could help the planners is to ensure that the data of all the degree holders and recognised certificates after passing should be transferred to the central database. This would enable NADRA to update its record of these CNIC holders.

In the same way, the blood group information collected at public institutions, major operations, or diseases contracted by any CNIC holder should also be transferred to the central database for consolidation of the data of the individual. This could facilitate health planners in fixing their priorities in the health sector.

These processes would not require any additional expenditure, but only the commitment of the government to ensure a reliable database from technology that is available in Pakistan and could be implemented with ease.