Interesting Facts

India is launching an identity card scheme. (Using the latest biometric technology including an iris scan, over the next five years the cards will log details of India's population of more than one billion people on a central database. It's all starting in a remote village, Tembhli, in India's western state of Maharashtra. More than 1,200 cards have been handed out, making Tembhli the first UID-compliant village in India. Well at least they now know who they are.) Source: BBC News

Overseas students coming to the UK will need biometric identity cards. Anyone applying for a visa extension will have to give their fingerprint from today.

In November 2008, people from abroad will be the first people in modern Britain to be given ID cards. (The scheme will cost a staggering £4.7bn.)

The UK currently has no ID card system. (People are very surprised when I tell them this, in fact many people argue with me! However, there are currently plans to introduce one at a cost of £93 per person, although some economists reckon it will cost on average £300 per person. Great!) !Update - The scheme has been abandoned. Great!