SAMBALPUR: Karan does not know who his parents are. He does not know his caste and has never had a permanent home or family to fall back on. Yet, at 18, the orphaned student of Gangadhar Meher University (GMU) is being asked to produce documents to prove his identity to access scholarship and other government benefits.
Karan’s problems started with the documents prepared for him when he was a child in institutional care. His Aadhaar card has the father’s name mentioned as PK Senapati, the then secretary of the child-care institution where he stayed. Years later, when his matriculation form was filled up, the names Muna Ekka and Kan Ekka were entered as his parents perhaps by the then officials in charge. Those names now appear on his matriculation certificate.
The mismatch between the two records has left Karan caught between documents that do not reflect any known biological parentage. And he is now paying the price for a situation over which he had no control.
A Plus III second-year student of GMU, Karan was admitted under the Green Passage scheme and stays in the university hostel. But despite being eligible, he has not been able to receive any scholarship or financial assistance under the government schemes. With no family support, he takes tuition classes to meet his daily expenses and often struggles to arrange money for books and other study materials.
His difficulties do not end there. Karan says he has a hearing impairment but has been unable to access disability benefits because of the documentation problem. He also says the mismatch affected his opportunity to play for the state cricket team.
Karan was brought to Rourkela Shishubhavan when he was just five to six months old. The facility reportedly closed after around five years following which he was shifted to Sarvabhuti Ashram. Having grown up in different institutions, he never had a permanent family address. His Aadhaar was prepared at the Shishubhavan.
Last year, Karan approached the Sambalpur administration but the officials expressed helplessness as the child-care institution where he had stayed was in Sundargarh district. He later moved to the Sundargarh administration, seeking help to resolve the issue. Though the collector assigned his case to the district child protection officer (DCPO), no solution came. Karan says he was told that the issue would be sorted out after he became a major.
After turning 18 in March, he has tried to correct his Aadhaar details himself. But his attempts too have hit a roadblock. He has been asked to produce a residential certificate. “For someone like me, who has grown up in different institutions and does not have a permanent family address, where will I get a residential certificate from?” asks Karan.
For a student who has managed to reach university despite growing up without parents, the unresolved documentation issue has now emerged as a fresh obstacle for his future plans.
On Tuesday, Karan met OHRC chairman Satrughana Pujahari during an event at the university. Pujahari said, “The issue appears to have arisen from a statutory lacuna in the manner in which the orphaned child’s identity and records were handled. It calls for an in-depth inquiry. We will register a case to ensure justice for him, establish his identity and secure the benefits he is rightfully entitled to.”
On the other hand, Sundargarh DCPO Sribanta Jena said, “A camp was held last month to rectify Aadhaar of such cases. Despite our efforts, the boy could not be contacted.”