Stalls out the district administration office offering electronic form submission services for the e-passport and National ID. Photo courtesy: Abha Lal.
Stalls out the district administration office offering electronic form submission services for the e-passport and National ID. Photo courtesy: Abha Lal.

Nepal’s biometric future

The country's new biometric identification system threatens to deepen exclusion.

Abha Lal is a journalist based in Kathmandu.

Published on

At 2 pm on a sweltering Thursday afternoon at the District Administration Office in Jaleshwor, Mahottari, there were about 50 people crowded outside a kiosk labelled 'National Identity Card Details Collection Centre'. Rakesh Kumar, 22, who was in line, said that he had been at the office since 8 am that morning – he needed a National ID card to acquire an e-Passport to go to Malaysia as a migrant labourer.

"I came a few days ago to get the card made. Apparently, my citizenship certificate did not contain adequate information about my family, so I had to get a new citizenship (document), and now I will get the National ID so that I can travel," Rakesh said.

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