THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Basic information about children in the state are scattered among government departments that not one service provider, be it local bodies or the Social Justice Department or the Education Department, has in its possession a comprehensive database. Finding that the fragmented nature of information was hampering the state’s social intervention strategies, it has been decided to create a Single Register for children in the state. Initially, the project, carried out with the support of UNICEF, will be initiated on a pilot basis in two panchayats in the state: Karakulam in Thiruvananthapuram and Thirunelli in Wayanad.
“The idea is to get all the data on children and mothers on one platform,” said V. S. Venu, the state project director for ICDS. There are various social welfare programmes the state provides for women and children: immunisation, pre-school care, nutrition programmes, and maternity benefits are some of them. “For all such assistance to reach the deserving, a proper database is inevitable,” Mr Venu said. Now, parts of the database are with different agencies, some with local bodies, some with the Education Department, and some with the Health Department. Thanks to bureaucratic red-tape, departments are hesitant to share the information.
“In such a scenario, it is easy for the undeserving to get hold of benefits. There is a lot of duplication, too,” Mr Venu said. The biggest advantage of a Single Register is the focus it can bring to social welfare. “Once we have access to such a register we can track the benefit and the beneficiary. As it stands, we just say that a certain number had received a particular benefit. Numbers are vague, it can include the undeserving. We will have the ward and the house number of a particular beneficiary at our finger tips, and can easily look out for diversions” the project director said.
