BHUBANESWAR: The State government is all set to start enrollment of newborns in hospitals to facilitate 100 per cent (pc) Aadhaar saturation in the 0-5 years age group.
All newborns will be enrolled without biometrics as part of the Baal Aadhaar initiative. Similar to the Aadhaar which is meant for adults, the Baal Aadhaar also has a 12 digit unique identification number. Their unique identification number (UID) will be processed on the basis of demographic information and facial photographs linked with the UID of their parents.
The children will have to update their biometrics of 10 fingers, iris and facial photograph, when they turn five and 15 years. Intimation to this effect will be mentioned in the original Aadhaar letter.
Of around 4.6 crore estimated population in the State by 2020, 4.4 crore people have Aadhaar enrollment with an achievement of 96.17 per cent (pc). However, only 14.83 lakh children below five years out of 40.36 lakh have been enrolled so far.
Although the overall Aadhaar saturation in the 18 plus age group in Odisha is among the best in the country, the achievement is only 36.75 pc in the 0-5 years age group, which is an area of concern. Among the 5-18 years, 98.08 lakh have Aadhaar number out of an estimated 1.2 crore population in the age group.
In order to facilitate the Aadhaar enrollment of newborns, the Centre has provisioned Child Enrollment Lite Client (CELC) kits to be deployed dedicatedly for Aadhaar linked birth registration of 0-5 years children.
The Centre has also provided financial assistance of Rs 1.98 crore for procurement of one CELC kit per CHC, two for each SDH and three for each DHH considering higher density of population in urban areas. A Health department official said the State government wants to integrate both birth and death registration.
"We intend to deploy 549 CELC kits in PHCs, CHCs, SDHs, DHHs and medical colleges besides AIIMS for Aadhaar enrollment. Initially, the drive will start in around 300 hospitals reporting maximum number of institutional deliveries," he informed.
Meanwhile, the State government has declared Additional Director of Health Intelligence and Vital Statistics as the state-level nodal officer and District Public Health Officers as district-level nodal officers for their respective districts to monitor Child enrollments on behalf of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).