The change was announced as part of amendments to the National Registration Act, which passed in Parliament in November but will go into effect in January. The iris images will be used as a complementary verification method to photographs and fingerprints.

Government Adoption Of Biometrics

Over the past few years, governments around the world have started warming up to the idea of collecting their citizens' biometric identities. This includes fingerprints, which are already required for passports in many countries, or more recently iris scans, now required in both India and Singapore.

Some governments, such as the U.S. government, have even started collecting some citizens' biometrics in secret or by requiring the collection of biometric identities when applying to various federal services. So far, governments seem much more interested in using biometrics as identification for citizens than in enabling citizens to authenticate to various services with their fingerprints or iris profiles.