Himachal Leads In Aadhaar Enrolment
Himachal Pradesh recorded four times rise in Aadhaar enrollment in case of children below five years of age
Y.S. Rana
Himachal Pradesh has not only found a place in the list of achieving 100% aadhaar saturation but has also recorded four times rise in the number of children below five years of age for Aadhaar enrollment compared to the last year. The UIDAI data released in December reveals that state has 5.76 lakh children below five years of age, of these 3.40 lakh (59.1%) children have been enrolled for aadhaar till December 15. The state has low percentage (15.1%) aadhaar enrolment of children below five years of age and was at the bottom in the region. UIDAI nodal officer revealed that Haryana tops in Aadhaar saturation for children below five years of age with 75%. Of 24.98 lakh children of this age, 18.72 lakh children have been enrolled for Aadhaar in Haryana. Chandigarh has over 86.580 children below five years old and city has enrolled 59,031 children of this age for Aadhaar that comes to 68.2%. Punjab could only provide Aadhaar coverage to 12.26 lakh children below five years out of 22.56 lakh children that comes to 54.3%.
In case of Aadhaar saturation to 6-18 years, Himachal Pradersh has enrolled 15.07 lakh children that comes to 88.6% compared to Punjab 88.7%. Chandigarh tops with 95.8% followed by Haryana 91.3%. Of 2.56 lakh children of this age group, Chandigarh has enrolled 2.45 lakh children for Aadhaar followed by Punjab and Himachal Pradesh with 88.7% each. All governments are on its way bringing offline services to citizen-centric services online across the country. Himachal Pradesh has also done well in Aadhar enrolment of children below five years of age by taking up the tablet driven mission in a big way. To achieve the target, the state government has decided to rope in all Anganwaris and schools. Moving fast on the matter, the state government has put all efforts to bring more and more children under Aadhaar coverage. The efforts seem to pay dividend, the state has recorded four-time rise in enrolment of children below five years of age.
The UIDAI official said that to achieve the goal in given time frame, Aadhaar enrolment camps have been put on the job to enroll below five years age children since September 16 last year. He further said that credit went to state governments and district administrations for this success as they have provided active support to Aadhaar project and ensured high Aadhaar saturation in their respective areas. Work of enrolment has been taken up in close coordination with the Social Welfare Department to speeden up aadhar enrolment. It resulted in more than three-time increase in Aadhaar saturation of children below five years age, said he. The step has not only assisted in monitoring delivery of all welfare and health-related benefits to an infant but has also helped in tracking the child from birth to immunization to school admission and drop-outs. The government is all set to achieve 100% enrolment of children below five years of age. The administration instead of using the traditional iris scans system on computers and seeking other biometrics documents, the enrolment is being done with the help of tablets and photographs of toddlers by clicking and uploading them. “While enrolling a child below five years of age, his/her biometrics is not captured. Instead Aadhaar number and biometrics of parents either father or mother is linked with child’s birth certificate,” said the official. Besides, it will be a tool to serve as data-base information of each child for timely and assured delivery of servicers, added he. He further revealed that left-outs were mostly children in the said age group. The programme was not only covering the newborns but also children pending for Aadhaar enrolment. The are over 15 crore infants in India in the age group below five years whose inclusion is essential to meet the target of 100% coverage.
| Improvement in Aadhaar Saturation Of Children | |||||
| State | Children Below | Aadhaar | Percentage | Percentage | |
| 5 Years Age | Assigned | -2016 | -2015 | ||
| Haryana | 24.98 lakh | 18.72 lakh | 74.9 | 36.3 | |
| Chandigarh | 86.58 | 59.031 | 68.2 | 20.6 | |
| Himachal Pradesh | 5.76 lakh | 3.40 lakh | 59.1 | 15.2 | |
| Punjab | 22.56 lakh | 12.26 lakh | 54.3 | 28.6 | |
Himachal-o-Meter
The state’s ups and downs this week
Ray Of Hope For Shimla Airport Runway
Shimla: Queen of Hills, Shimla, could soon get air connectivity as the Airports Authority of India (AAI) has got green signal for restoration and expansion of the existing runway of Shimla Airport at a cost of Rs 105 crore. Notably no commercial operations are taking place at this airport since September 2012 when Kingfisher Airlines ceased its operations. Its basic strip has been eroded due to rains over the years. “Based on the information submitted by the project proponent, the Environment Ministry has given environment clearance to the AAI’s proposal on restoration of basic strip, prevention of soil erosion and feasibility study for extension of Shimla airport,” a senior government official said. The green nod to the project has been given subject to compliance of some conditions, the official added. The cost of the proposed project is estimated to be Rs 105.02 crore. As per the proposal, the AAI wants to do restoration and grading of runway strip. It also wants to put runway markings and signs as also runway-end safety area on either side of the runway strip. Besides this, the AAI wants to improve drainage, including repairs of existing cross and longitudinal drains of airstrip, construct six meter wide road to connect fire station to operational gate.
Four Labourers Buried In Rampur Landslide
Shimla: Four Nepali labourers working in Kashapat road in Rampur area of Shimla district, about 160 km from here, were killed in a massive landslide. The deceased were about to leave after removing the debris from the narrow road, opened on December 31, when a huge rock caved in and they were buried alive under the debris. Officials along with local people reached the spot immediately after the incident but the rescue operations had to be abandoned due to darkness and looming threat of more landslides due to loose strata on the hill side. The rescue operations were started again by the administration with the help of local people. However, it took considerable time to extricate the bodies from the debris as the road was narrow with a deep gorge on the other side and only one JCB that could be deployed, said DSP Rampur Som Dutt. After more than four hours of hard labour, the bodies of all four labourers were recovered after removing huge mound of debris. and handed over to family members after postmortem.
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