National Database and Registration Authority (Nadra) has decided to sponsor a high profile research programme in Bio-metric Technology to be launched in Quaid-e-Azam University (QAU), informed sources in Nadra told Business Recorder on Monday. The programme will be partially funded by Quaid-e-Azam University while Nadra will bear the cost of the project worth Rs 3.6 to 4 million per annum, they added.
The programme will be a joint venture of Nadra and QAU, which will help create Pakistan's biometric technology indigenously for local use and for sale to other countries. They said that the proposal was floated by Nadra high ups to Quaid-e-Azam University and the varsity has agreed to launch masters and doctorial level research programmes in Bio-metric Technology.
When contacted by Business Recorder, Deputy Chairman Nadra, Tariq Malik confirmed that the proposal was sent to Quaid-e-Azam University and they were working on it. "We can spend Rs 300,000 to 400,000 per month on the Bio-metric Technology research, which can later give the country valuable return," he said.
Malik said that many students of Quaid-e-Azam University has shown interest and agreed to develop the project. "We have the capacity and we can do it, so we have to utilise our expertise and funds for the betterment of the country," Malik said. After initiating research programme in Bio-metric Technology, we will be in a position to develop our own technology, Malik said, adding that Nadra can save huge foreign exchange being spent on purchase of Bio-metric technology from other countries.