Street children to get Aadhaar cards, bank accounts

Hyderabad has 28,560 of these marginalised citizens as per a survey in January 2016

Children living on the streets without identity papers are likely to get Aadhaar cards as well as bank accounts soon under the RBI-mandated Jan Dhan Yojana. This was disclosed by charity, Save the Children, during the course of a workshop on ‘Vulnerable children and families of displaced communities’ here on Tuesday.

“Sixty per cent of street children have no identity papers. And if they are displaced people or refugees like the Rohingyas in Hyderabad, the children are scared to disclose their identity. We brought this to the notice of National Child Protection Rights Commission and they are studying the feasibility of giving Aadhar cards,” said Bidisha Pillai of Save the Children.

Census

“Hyderabad has 28,560 street children and a majority of them are in the GHMC’s central zone,” informed Alka Singh of Save the Children, releasing the findings of a census of street children in Hyderabad conducted over five months between September 2015 and January 2016.

The statistics reveal the city is not friendly to its marginalised citizens. “A big chunk of the youngsters in the city are migrants from rural Telangana,” said Ms. Singh. About 78.7 per cent of the street children are from Telangana while 12 per cent are from Andhra Pradesh, according to the census.

“Telangana had a super case of disaster where millions were affected without anyone becoming wiser about it. This year we had a slow onset of disaster due to the drought. And what did the government do? We don’t know. Where are the farmers in digital Talangana? Where are the farmers’ children in digital Telangana?” asked Sajit Menon of Save the Children.

Surprisingly, about 66 per cent of street children work and earn money, while 34 per cent of them pursue education in one form or the other.

School at Balapur

“We realised that among the most vulnerable are the children who are displaced due to conflict.

“Hyderabad has Rohingya refugees and many of their children had not seen a school.

“When we brought this to the notice of Sarva Siksha Abhiyan Commissioner, he acted immediately and within 20 days the school started functioning on World Refugee Day on June 20,” informed Ms. Singh.

The school is functional in Balapur where around 100 children spend the day studying and also get a square meal.

The school is run by Save the Children Foundation in tandem with Sarva Siksha Abhiyan and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.