Chennai: Blue coloured Baal Aadhaar seems to stand true to its name, as the blues are never-ending. Though the initiative of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for children below five years mandates all the enrolment centres to accept applications, most of the Baal Aadhaar applications are being diverted to banks with a limited number of operators in the capital city.
Not even two per cent of the total staff at Arasu cable TV centres and zonal offices (which also act as Aadhaar enrolment centres) in the city is equipped with tablets required for registration of Baal Aadhaar - the reason why most of them are diverted to banks.
Three to four operators are employed in the enrollment centres and each person takes up 40 cases including correction and new enrollment. As against the capacity of 160 corrections and enrollment for each centre, only 40-45 cases are taken up each day as most of the operators cite the server delay to be the reason for not working.
Due to this, both the people wanting Baal Aadhaars and others throng banks, most of which have a maximum of two operators (in most cases one). So only 40 increments or corrections are done each day.
“At Mambalam taluk office, there are four operators and only one works. Two Aadhaar operators are not working for the first week of January and another one, a new operator does not have a separate laptop,” rued V. Gopalakrishnan, an activist residing at MGR Nagar. When DC visited other offices, it was found that the plight is alike at all other offices. One of the officials said the information has to be uploaded every five days, the failure of which would lead to blockage. Further, he added that there are not enough electronic devices provided to the staff.
Other than this, Baal Aadhaar enrollments also happen at Anganvadi camps, but they do not give acknowledgement slips, rue public. “While few people write the name followed by initial, some do it otherwise or some people even add a middle name. When an acknowledgement slip having all the details is not provided, parents would be clueless while checking the status of Baal Aadhaar as to how the name is written; often the name proves to be erroneous,” said K. Chandran, a resident of Nungambakkam.
Who is given blue card?
A child below 5 years of age gets a blue coloured Aadhaar known as Baal Aadhaar. When the child becomes 5 years old, a mandatory biometric update is required. The Aadhaar will require another mandatory biometric update when the child attains the age of 15. Photo ID cards issued by child’s school can be used for his/her Aadhaar enrolment.
