NEW DELHI: Khaiver Hussain can now think of saving some money without the fear that it might get stolen while he's asleep at night. The brand new unique identification card issued by the government of India has empowered Khaiver not only by giving him an identity that he always longed for , but also by allowing him to open a bank account for the first time. Khaiver is undergoing deaddiction treatment and does odd jobs at construction sites. He is one of the 27 homeless persons who got their accounts opened with Corporation Bank. Another 50 homeless persons will join the league next week.
"All of us can now save for any eventuality," Khavier told Times City on Saturday evening as he settled after a day's work at the night shelter in Nizamuddin.
Ansari Rajjab , another homeless who works as a daily wage labourer , flashes his laminated UID card and passbook. He proudly declared that he had already deposited some savings. The new set of documents have given back Rajjab an identity he lost three years back when he left his home in Mumbai. He lost all his ID proofs in Delhi and had since been living on the streets and in shelters for the homeless.
On Saturday , Tufail Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh also made his way into the world of banking. "This passbook and the UID card have given people like me a new identity. It has empowered us," said Ahmed. Ahmed earlier lived at the Nizamuddin night shelter but has now taken up a single room with four others in Sarai Kale Khan. All of them are daily wage labourers.
Nitesh Kumar , project coordinator , Homeless Citizen's Resource Centre (south Delhi), said 50 more homeless persons will be issued passbooks early next week.
Dr Amod Kumar from the state-appointed mother NGO on homeless said that all those who are registered under the ongoing survey on homeless are being gradually issued provisional ID cards. A unique number is issued to each of the sites where the homeless are found to be residing. This will be considered as their address. In the 'contact details ' section of the ID card the address of the Homeless Resource Centre in-charge of the area will be mentioned. There are five homeless resource centres in the city.
All those who are being put through the process for issuance of provisional ID cards under the state's Mission Convergence programme are simultaneously enrolled for UID. "Now that the UID cards have started coming in the exercise of creating an identity for a homeless person has come full circle ," Kumar said.
The provisional ID and the subsequent issuance of UID by the Union government will allow the homeless to seek old age pensions and other benefits for which identity proofs are essential.
The Union government had constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India led by Nandan Nilekani in January, 2009 with an aim to issue Unique ID numbers to the residents of India. As a follow-up , the Delhi government signed an MoU with UIDAI to issue unique ID numbers to residents of the capital.
ambika.pandit@timesgroup.com
"All of us can now save for any eventuality," Khavier told Times City on Saturday evening as he settled after a day's work at the night shelter in Nizamuddin.
Ansari Rajjab , another homeless who works as a daily wage labourer , flashes his laminated UID card and passbook. He proudly declared that he had already deposited some savings. The new set of documents have given back Rajjab an identity he lost three years back when he left his home in Mumbai. He lost all his ID proofs in Delhi and had since been living on the streets and in shelters for the homeless.
On Saturday , Tufail Ahmed from Uttar Pradesh also made his way into the world of banking. "This passbook and the UID card have given people like me a new identity. It has empowered us," said Ahmed. Ahmed earlier lived at the Nizamuddin night shelter but has now taken up a single room with four others in Sarai Kale Khan. All of them are daily wage labourers.
Nitesh Kumar , project coordinator , Homeless Citizen's Resource Centre (south Delhi), said 50 more homeless persons will be issued passbooks early next week.
Dr Amod Kumar from the state-appointed mother NGO on homeless said that all those who are registered under the ongoing survey on homeless are being gradually issued provisional ID cards. A unique number is issued to each of the sites where the homeless are found to be residing. This will be considered as their address. In the 'contact details ' section of the ID card the address of the Homeless Resource Centre in-charge of the area will be mentioned. There are five homeless resource centres in the city.
All those who are being put through the process for issuance of provisional ID cards under the state's Mission Convergence programme are simultaneously enrolled for UID. "Now that the UID cards have started coming in the exercise of creating an identity for a homeless person has come full circle ," Kumar said.
The provisional ID and the subsequent issuance of UID by the Union government will allow the homeless to seek old age pensions and other benefits for which identity proofs are essential.
The Union government had constituted the Unique Identification Authority of India led by Nandan Nilekani in January, 2009 with an aim to issue Unique ID numbers to the residents of India. As a follow-up , the Delhi government signed an MoU with UIDAI to issue unique ID numbers to residents of the capital.
ambika.pandit@timesgroup.com
