New Delhi: The Delhi Commission for
Protection of Child Rights has requested UIDAI to ensure that
lakhs of street children in the city get their unique identity
number so that they can benefit from various welfare schemes.
In a letter to Unique Identification Authority of
India chief Nandan Nilekani, DCPCR chief Amod Kanth has said
in absence of proper identity, homeless and street children
often do not get benefits of welfare schemes and providing
AADHAR identity numbers would help them get various
entitlements.
He said out of the total homeless people in the city,
25 to 45 per cent could be children below 18 years of age and
they often remain "outside the safety net".
The DCPCR chief said enumeration and identification of
the deprived children, whose number could not be less than
five lakh, is the primary responsibility of the city
government.
"The children do have a right to identity and
nationality under the United Nation Convention on the Rights
of Child (UNCRC)," he said in the letter.
The Commission also offered to provide its full
cooperation in identifying the homeless and deprived children.
Earlier this month, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had
distributed "beghar" cards and provisional Unique
Identification Numbers to the homeless people in the city.
Biometric-based data including fingerprints and an
iris scan is being used for the first time by UIDAI to provide
a cost-effective nationally valid and verifiable single source
of identity proof.
PTI
First Published: Friday, October 22, 2010, 21:48