Iris Scan Data Base to Trace Missing Children

"A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.”

- Sir Winston Churchill

More than five years back (to be exact, on 26-5-2011) I had published on this site a post ‘Iris Recognition Technology to Prevent Impersonation in Elections’. Today I would like high light the use of iris scan to track missing children.

            Missing children has been an important issue in all countries. In India around 180 children go missing on an average every day and the trend is on the increase. Government of India has already launched a website Khoya-Paya which you can access at http://khoyapaya.gov.in. 

            As time passes on, the tracing of missing children becomes more and more difficult when we use older identification methods like photographs and distinction marks on the body. If we have the iris scan pattern of the child in our data base the identification of the child becomes fool proof since each individual has a unique iris scan pattern which cannot change with time. It is in this context that iris scan of all children becomes important so that a national or international data base is maintained. Aadhar enrolment of all children is therefore a right step in this connection.

            Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have already developed high-resolution cameras to scan a person's iris from 40 feet away. Tracking of missing children becomes easy if such cameras are placed at major check points like bus stations, railway stations and air ports. Iris pattern of the suspected child can be compared with that of the missing child (available in the data base) in a very short time to save the child.