In northwest Delhi govt hospitals, newborn girls to get bank account, Aadhaar

From Friday, parents of baby girl in northwest Delhi's state-run hospitals will walk out with her birth certificate, Aadhaar card and a bank account.

The administration will also gift parents a souvenir, which will have the child's footprints and a photo.

District Magistrate Cheshta Yadav said the intention of the initiative, 'Nanhi Pari', is to provide a one-stop solution to parents, thus eliminating their need to visit various offices for obtaining documents.

"A lot of parents run around to get Aadhaar and birth certificate of their baby girl. We wanted to decentralise our document-making machinery so that they don't face any issues," Yadav told PTI.

The officer said she discussed the idea with the Aadhaar officials and the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), and they readily came on board.

While the initiative will kick off at the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital on Friday, three other hospitals in the district -- Bhagwan Mahavir Hospital, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital and Deep Chand Bandhu Hospital -- will launch the scheme next week.

Among the four hospitals, Baba Saheb Ambedkar Hospital sees the highest number of births in a day, ranging from 50 to 65.

Yadav said that in the absence of birth certificate and Aadhaar card, banks were not enrolling beneficiaries under the Centre's 'Sukanya Samriddhi Yojana' and the Delhi government's 'Laadli' scheme.

"We have set up a 'Nanhi Pari' helpdesk near the gynaecology ward of the Sanjay Gandhi Memorial Hospital. The help desk will have officials from the MCD, bank and Aadhaar units to ensure that the parents of girl children have these documents before they are discharged," she said.

Yadav also hoped that the initiative will promote institutional deliveries. "In case the discharge is done early, parents can come to the hospital to get the documentation done since their records will be saved," she added.

Talking about the initiative, another officer said that "societal depression" regarding the birth of a girl is still prevalent and the administration wanted to convey to the parents that it is an occasion to be celebrated.

"Also, hospitals are far from district offices where the documentation is done. We didn't want the parents to wander around," the officer added.

Yadav said that if the initiative is successful, the administration might expand its ambit to involve baby boys too.