They are among the country’s uncounted and unidentified — a mass of nameless, faceless and homeless people. But soon, they may be among the first to have their own unique identity numbers.
While the official launch will be held in a village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on September 29, when Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will issue the first 10 Aadhaar numbers, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to start the process in Delhi with the city’s homeless people next week.
To achieve this, the UIDAI is collaborating with the Delhi Government’s Mission Convergence, also called Samajik Suvidha Sangam. The enrolment will be done at night, on the streets, under bridges, flyovers and other places where the homeless take shelter, with officials touring the city with loudspeakers, urging the people to avail the scheme.
According to estimates drawn up by Mission Convergence, there are about two lakh homeless people in Delhi. These are mostly migrants, including beggars and disabled people, who live on the streets and have no access to any welfare schemes.
The “Beghar Card”, bearing the unique identification number, will be delivered by postal staff, who will track them down on the streets or under bridges, as indicated in the address during the enrolment drive. The process of digitisation of records has already begun for around 30,000 homeless people. Besides Delhi and Nandurbar, enrolments have also begun in Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.
“Our mandate is to issue identification numbers to residents of India and not citizens of India. We are doing just that,” said a UIDAI official. That was also the reason why a village in Nandurbar was chosen for the launch — to reflect the inclusive approach of the project.
“We are in the process of finalising things in Delhi,” said a senior UIDAI official. “We want to start the process and show we are serious,” he said.
To spread awareness about the scheme, the government is planning to stage street shows. Similar all-night enrolment drives are being planned to include the homeless population in other urban locations too.
“This is the first such step to include the marginalised and is a very intense engagement effort,” said K Ganga, deputy director general of UIDAI who is charge of the project’s implementation in the Delhi region.
“The whole UIDAI programme is for giving Aadhaar to every resident, which includes poor and homeless. But it is especially for the vulnerable and the poor. The homeless, in that context, become extremely important. They need it the most,” she said.
The Mission Convergence is an initiative to converge various welfare entitlement schemes and services meant for the poor under a single window. The Samajik Suvidha Sangam will act as an interface between nine Delhi Government departments, including Health & Family Welfare, Education, Women & Child Development, and Social Welfare.
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