New software to issue Aadhaar cards to children

Kids in the age group of zero to five years targeted; anganwadis to play key role

Children in the age group of zero to five years will be brought under Aadhaar with the help of a special software developed for the purpose. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will launch the process on May 15.

Disclosing this to the media here on Wednesday, UIDAI Deputy Director General Ashok Dalwai said the authority would begin the exercise on a trial basis across the country on May 1, before taking it up in earnest on May 15.

With the new software, he said, only photographs of children would be captured (as against fingerprints, iris image and photographs in the case of others). So far, children between zero and five years were being issued the cards on the basis of their parents’ Aadhaar cards.

“According to an analysis, it was found that of the total 6.11 crore population in the State, 4.71 crore (78 per cent) had availed themselves of Aadhaar cards. Among them, 50 per cent of the left-out group was children in the age group of zero to five years and sub-adults in the age group of six to 18 years. That apart, a drive was conducted at childcare institutes and other places where children are housed, to assess the data of children actually having the card. To bridge the gap, it was decided to develop a special software for them,” Dalwai said.

To achieve the target, both the Women and Child Development and Education departments will be tasked with the job of mobilising children to avail the cards. Anganwadi workers and assistants will have to play a key role in this regard, he said.
Though Dalwai didn’t specify the actual role of anganwadi workers, he said, “Mobile phones with Android software could be used to capture the photos of the children in anganwadis and uploaded to the UIDAI website for further processing.”

He said this would also help track the number of children going to anganwadi centres.
1.7 million cards

Saying that there has been an improvement in the frequency in generating Aadhaar cards per day ever since it was launched in 2010, Dalwai said 1.2 million Aadhaar cards were generated every day presently.

Mysuru tops

Mysuru tops at 98 per cent for issuing most number of Aadhaar cards, while Kalabuargi, Raichur, Koppal, Yadgir, Chitradurga and other districts are rated below 75 per cent, considered as poor. It could be attributed to the migrating population, where people fail to enrol themselves for the cards, he said.

Karnataka too tops in the country, being ranked among the top six for the successful distribution of Aadhaar cards.