The Centre has asked the States and Union Territories to actively involve the Panchayats in the scheme of Unique Identification. In a letter to the Chief Secretaries, the Panchayati Raj Ministry has given details of the specific role of the Panchayats in this endeavour. It says, Panchayat functionaries, subject to certain safeguards, should be recognised as authorised introducers for citizens who do not have any document as proof of their identity. It says that the approach of the Unique Identification Authority of India is to use network of approved introducers who can vouch for the validity of residents information. It has also been suggested that while giving details of the residential address of the citizens, the relevant Village Panchayat may be added as an additional data because identification of beneficiaries under various schemes is generally done by the Village Panchayats.<br/> <br/>