Govt to track children living in child care homes through Aadhaar

In an attempt to strengthen the information base and track children living in shelter homes, Aadhaar cards of over 30,000 children have been linked to the Track Child portal.

The portal functions as a central database of all missing children. It will help coordination between child homes, police departments and state governments.

According to the official, the Ministry has asked all the stakeholders to ensure Aadhaar registration of children in all CCIs. Necessary action is been taken by the state governments as reported by them at various platforms. There is already a provision of entering Aadhaar details of a child on the TrackChild Portal.

Aadhaar enrolment procedure by child care institutions at times have led authorities to find parents of the child.

Around 30835 Aadhaar card numbers have been linked till now, according to a Women and Child Development official. In India, about 2,61566 children are living in 9000 CCIs, according to a report.

National Crime Record Bureau (NCRB) report said that in the years between 2014-2016 around 68,874, 60,443, and 63,407 children were reported missing respectively.

Now, newborns will also be linked to Aadhaar. About 500 hospitals and healthcare centres in Maharashtra will have trained staffers for initiating Aadaar-linked birth registration for newborns from August this year.

The govt has made Aadhaar compulsory for various services including opening bank accounts, PAN cards, cellphone services, passport and driving licenses. It was made the proof of identity and residence, over-riding all other prior identity proofs.

According to the UIDAI, of the state’s total projected population of 12,08,37,347, around 11,19,80,383 or 92.7% have been assigned Aadhaar numbers as of June-end.

Ever since Aadhaar formation, the questions have been raised over its security. Aadhaar central and state databases had in past been subject to many breaches.

However, Bill Gates recently praised the Aadhaar system. He said the 12-digit data system prevents you from collecting things that you shouldn’t collect or accessing a health record you shouldn’t have access to. The basic Aadhaar mechanism is an identity mechanism and so it is too bad if somebody thinks that Aadhaar creates a privacy problem.