Karnataka govt mulling quota in education for orphaned kids under special category: Minister Hebbalkar

Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will take steps towards providing reservation in education to orphaned children by treating them as a special category, Women & Child Development Laxmi Hebbalkar said in the Assembly on Wednesday.

The minister was responding to a question by Mudigere Congress MLA Nayana Motamma on hardships faced by orphaned kids in obtaining Aadhaar and other documents.

"For the purpose of education, it's a must for children to provide Aadhaar and other details. It's not possible for orphans to give Aadhaar. They won't have a birth certificate and details of their parents," Nayana said, adding that she knows of the problems as she is the director of an orphanage that has 138 children. "We need to secure the future of such children," she said.

Karnataka has 17,049 orphaned children (9,175 boys and 7,874 girls) in 712 orphanages registered under the Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Hebbalkar said.

"At present, we're considering orphaned children under the general category for higher education admissions," Hebbalkar said. "We proposed twice to the social welfare department including these children in the SC/ST list. But this was rejected," she said. She also pointed out that the Karnataka State Commission for Backward Classes under K Jayaprakash Hegde recommended including such children under OBC Category-1.

Social Welfare Minister Dr HC Mahadevappa maintained that Hebbalkar's suggestion cannot be implemented. Congress lawmaker PM Narendraswamy pointed out that only the union government could make inclusions to the SC/ST list.

Nayana said the government must consider something on the lines of 1% reservation provided to specially-abled children.

Hebbalkar said her department would move towards creating a special reservation category for orphaned children.

Earlier, responding to Nayana's concerns, Hebbalkar said her department issues birth certificates to orphan kids. "On the day of their admission, we get a medical examiner to certify their age," she said. "Also, Aadhaar cards are being issued by designating deputy commissioners as superintendent guardians," she added.