Street children living around Mumbai Central are set to get identity cards following the Aadhaar camp held on Wednesday by non-governmental organisation Save the Children.
A total of 106 children were registered for national identity cards, which is the first step to ensure that health, education and protection mechanisms are made available to children living on the streets. The camp, organised in collaboration with the Mumbai City Collector’s office, Hamara Foundation and Salaam Balak Trust, was held at Gilder Lane Municipal School, Mumbai Central.
Under the project, two million children in the country will be provided Aadhaar cards, of which over 80,000 live in Mumbai, Nashik and Pune. Actress Dia Mirza, artist ambassador, Save the Children; Dr. Padamshri Bainade, Deputy Collector, Mumbai City; Bidisha Pillai, CEO, Save the Children and Milind Bidwai, chairperson of the Child Welfare Committee, were present on the occasion.
Speaking at the camp, Ms. Mirza said, “It’s just not right that 79% of street children live without a legal identity, which denies them access to the most basic human rights like healthcare and education. Getting an identity proof is the starting point for them to access essential services and make a better life for themselves. And this is not the responsibility of the government or NGOs alone. We all, as members of society, require to contribute so they can have better living conditions and equal opportunities.”
Dr. Bainade said each child has the right to an identity. “Unfortunately, children living in street situations are deprived of their basic rights. It’s a joint effort of giving an identity to street children so that they can also access their basic rights. It’s our duty to support the most excluded children living in our society.”
Ms. Pillai explained that the standard operating procedure (SOP) for Care and Protection of Children in Street Situations, lays down a sequence of actions to be taken for restoration and rehabilitation of street children, which includes getting them Aadhaar cards, health insurance, bank accounts and financial sponsorship for families to help them meet medical and nutritional requirements. “This is a milestone towards getting these children their rights,” she said. “We plan to roll out a similar implementation of the SOP and have an Aadhaar card drive across Telangana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi and Bihar. These early wins are in the direction of achieving the larger goal of ensuring that needs of children in street situations are included in government policies and programmes in order to bring them into the mainstream.”
Save the Children had, in 2016, undertaken a five-city survey titled, ‘Life on the Streets’, which found that approximately 85,000 children are living and working on the streets in India, representing 1.25% of the total child population. The study also found that over 80% of the children living in street situations have no form of a legal identity document, denying them access to social entitlements initiated by state and central governments, such as free and compulsory education, health insurance, and skill development. As a consequence, more than 69% of children on streets are working and about 80% of their earnings are spent on buying food.
