ACCESSING LEGAL IDENTITY DOCUMENTS PROCESSES, CHALLENGES AND BEST PRACTICES
RAINBOW HOMES PROGRAM
Acknowledgements Knowledge Development and Dissemination Centre (KDDC) of Rainbow Homes Program have conducted this study with support from State Team members across sample cities viz, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Kolkata, Delhi and Patna © Any part of this report may be reproduced with appropriate acknowledgment.
Special Gratitude o To the Rainbow’s State Program Managers, State team members of “Future” program in 5 sample cities for facilitating interviews with government officials, NGO representatives, young adults and Home team members. o To all the young adults, parents and home team members across sample cities for sharing their learnings and experiences o To the Government officials at different Department responsible for issuing legal identity documents to the citizens for guiding us about the process and suggesting on alternative procedures of accessing legal identity documents for children in Rainbow Homes o To all the staff of selected NGOs for sharing their learnings and challenges in accessing different legal identity documents
Credits Author : Team, Knowledge Development & Dissemination Centre (KDDC), Rainbow Homes Program – Association for Rural and Urban Needy (ARUN) Designed and Printed by : Print World, Delhi
Contact Knowledge Development & Dissemination Centre(KDDC), Rainbow Homes Program, H.No. 1-1-711/C/1, Opposite Vishnu Residency, Gandhi Nagar, Hyderabad- 500 080 Ph.: 040-27660017 | www.rainbowhome.in
Table of Contents Chapter 1: Background & Methodology ................................................................................................ 2 Introduction: Identification, legal identity and Nationality ................................................................ 2 Rationality for the Study ..................................................................................................................... 5 Methodology ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Challenges and Limitations ............................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Legislative and Policy Frameworks ................................................................................... 11 International Commitments.............................................................................................................. 11 Commitments on identifications and identity documents ........................................................... 11 United Nations Legal Identity Agenda ......................................................................................... 12 National Commitments ..................................................................................................................... 14 Equality, Entitlements and Constitutional safeguards ................................................................. 14 Legislations and Government Orders ........................................................................................... 17 Some Ligislations on issuance of Legal Identity documents ........................................................ 19 Chapter 3: Assessing Importance, Constraints & Progress ................................................................ 25 Significance of Registration and Accessing Legal Identity Documents ............................................ 25 Consequences of Lack of Identification: Link between legal identity, birth registration and the risk of statelessness ................................................................................................................................. 26 Barriers and Disparities : Vulnerability among Children in CCIs ....................................................... 28 Constraints in Registration: Why are not all children registered at birth? ....................................... 28 Magnitude of the problem : Global Picture ...................................................................................... 30 Assessing problems of lacking legal identity documents of children under care of Rainbow Homes Program............................................................................................................................................. 30 Chapter 4: Laid Down Procedure of Different Legal Identity Documents, State Wise ................... 34 Section I: Eligibilities, Places of application and Issuing officials ..................................................... 34 Section II: Documents for application ............................................................................................... 40 Section III : Laid down Procedure for application ............................................................................ 42 III.A Procedure to Obtain different certificates ............................................................................ 42 III.B Applicable Fees to Obtain Certificates................................................................................... 57 III.C Scrutiny and verification processes ...................................................................................... 59 III.D Time frame for disposal ........................................................................................................ 60 III.E Procedure for Error corrections or cancellation of issued certificates ................................. 61 Section IV : Orphan Certificates: Special Measures by few states ................................................... 62 Chapter 5: Successes and Challenges: Rainbow’s experience ..................................................... 64
City wise case study: Successes and Challenges .............................................................................. 66 Kolkata .......................................................................................................................................... 66 Hyderabad..................................................................................................................................... 68 Delhi .............................................................................................................................................. 70 Patna ............................................................................................................................................. 72 Bangalore ...................................................................................................................................... 73 Chapter 6: Experiences and Best Practices of different organizations ......................................... 75 What worked well? ........................................................................................................................... 75 What were the bottlenecks in the process? .................................................................................... 79 Chapter 7: Alternative Procedure in Special Cases of Street/Orphan children ............................. 82 Alternative Procedure for disposal for Children with no documentary evidence ............................ 82 Birth Certificate ......................................................................................................................... 82 Caste/Community Certificate .................................................................................................... 87 Domicile Certificate ................................................................................................................... 90 Chapter 8: Action Research: Fact-Finding .................................................................................. 94 What is Action Research? ................................................................................................................. 94 Findings in the entire process of action research: from applying till receiving the legal identity documents for sample YAs................................................................................................................ 95 Chapter 9: Conclusions and Recommendation ........................................................................... 98 Specific Recommendations .............................................................................................................. 98 References .............................................................................................................................. 101
ABSTRACT This paper explores the importance of legal identity documents and need to deepen understanding of implications of lacking such documents for any citizen of a country, particularly for people from vulnerable or disadvantaged groups. Lack of identity documents or legal identity can be connected to poverty and vulnerability, as well as to the absence of transparent and efficient processes in public administration. Those who lack identity face considerable barriers to access many social and private benefits such as school certificates, health services, reservations in jobs, pensions, banking services, voting rights, among others. On the other hand, governments need to have accurate information about its citizenry. Identification and identity are issues not only relevant for a state’s policy planning, vital statistics, and tax revenue but also for the political, social, and economic inclusion of individual citizens into society. The paper presents the problematic access to legal identification documents by people living in poverty/difficult situations, the origin and causes of the problem and highlighted the areas of advocacy to bring change in mechanisms.
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Chapter 1: Background & Methodology INDRODUCTION Identification, legal identity and Nationality Lack of identity documents is an important obstacle to the protection of people forced to leave their homes by conflict, persecution, or natural disaster. At the most basic level, a person lacking identity documents cannot travel through the legal channels. Lack of identification can make people more vulnerable to trafficking, for example by making it more difficult to prove a person’s age or family relationships. Depending on the context, there may be little distinction between relative lack of documentation, which applies to people whose births have been registered but who do not possess a legally valid identification document (whether issued by the state of residence or another state) on reaching adulthood; and absolute lack of legal identification, which applies to people whose births were never registered, and who were never able to obtain any official identity documents.1 The question of identification is conceptually distinct from the question of legal status in a country, but increasingly inseparable in practice. From the outset, the provision of identification documents was built into the legal framework for international protection of refugees and stateless persons, and some common standards of refugee identification have been established by UNHCR. There is no such consensus or legal framework around identification as a national (or access to nationality), and a range of different documents may be accepted as proof of nationality, depending on context. Birth certificates, national identity cards, and passports are often not formal legal proof of nationality, even where they are accepted as such for all usual purposes. On the other hand, theoretical entitlement to a nationality is increasingly not meaningful if a state does not recognize the person as a national through the issue of the relevant documents that enable them to function—which vary by country but usually include birth certificates, national identity cards, and passports. 2 Legal identity is as much about being a citizen as it is about one’s sense of belonging and ability to exercise his or her rights and obligations. Legal identity can be understood as a composite condition obtained through birth or civil registration which gives the person an identity (name and nationality) and variables of unique personal identifiers. Legal identity and 1
Mia Harbitz and Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida, Democratic Governance, Citizenship, and Legal Identity: Linking Theoretical Discussion and Operational Reality, Inter-American Development Bank, 2009 2 2016, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank; Identification in the Context of Forced Displacement; Bronwen Manby
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lack of documentation are rarely debated in academic circles and seldom addressed in development projects, which is unfortunate considering the fundamental and far-reaching implications that the act of registering a birth has in all aspects of one’s life and being and his or her relationship with society.3 As UN estimated, 55% of the world’s population lives in urban areas, a proportion that is expected to increase to 68% by 2050. As the world continues to urbanise, sustainable development will require governments to work alongside public and private sector partners to develop policies, practices and services that allow the urban poor to enjoy equitable access to housing, education, health care, financial services, mobile connectivity and decent work. Integrated policies that strengthen the linkages between urban and rural areas, building on their existing economic and social ties, will also be needed to improve the lives and livelihoods of both urban and rural dwellers, specifically focusing on the needs of vulnerable groups.4 In order to ensure equitable access to all citizens efforts would be required ensuring all segments of the society to obtain official proofs of identity. The urban poor can often become invisible in the city where they do not have formal title or registration as a resident. Their lack of identification prevents them from gaining equitable access to the opportunities offered in urban areas. This situation is particularly true for migrant workers’ families, impoverished and street children that make up a large percentage of the invisible urban populations.
Legal Identity Proof of legal identity consists of official, government-issued and recognized identity documents— documents that include basic information attesting to the holder’s identity and age, status, and/or legal relationships. Without these proofs of one’s legal identity, persons find it difficult to exercise and enforce their rights, or obtain benefits and opportunities provided by the state. Consequently, “legal identity” can be construed narrowly to refer to official, government-issued identity documents that prove one’s status as a person who can exercise rights and demand protection under the law. Generally, birth certificates, administered through a civil registration system, are favoured as the preferred standard in establishing legal identity. This is primarily because birth certificates have the advantage of documenting age, place of birth, and familial relationships from the very beginning of life. Among the most basic responsibilities of states is universal birth registration for all those born in their territory, as well as registration of deaths and marriages and other changes in status. In particular, birth registration provides a child with official evidence of who their parents are and where they were born, which can facilitate recognition or acquisition of a nationality and ensure family unity during resettlement or repatriation.5
As requirements to produce identity documents are ever more pervasive, it becomes more important that the legal frameworks and systems to determine a person’s eligibility for a particular status and to issue the appropriate documents are fair, inclusive, and efficient, and 3
May / 2009; Mia Harbitz Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida; Working paper: Democratic Governance, Citizenship, and Legal Identity 4 https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-world-urbanizationprospects.html 5 Legal Identity for All by 2030: How Will We Know? The Hague, September 2015
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meet international human rights obligations. Provision of birth registration is the first imperative to ensure that each person has proof of legal identity; but birth registration is only a starting point, and, depending on context, other forms of proof of status will be needed. International law lays down important standards, but there remain gaps. The commitment of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to “provide legal identity for all, including birth registration,” provides an opportunity to address some of these deficits; but the meaning of “legal identity” beyond birth registration still needs further elaboration (June 2016, Bronwen Manby). At least eighteen documents currently are recognized as acceptable proofs of identity in developing countries like India. 6 These range from the passport, to the ration card, to the voting card, adhaar card, birth and caste certificates, among others. Government issued identifications/identity documents are essential to the effective functioning of a State, and to the mobility of individuals in the formal structures of a country. Governments use identification to assess populations for the delivery of services, and to monitor populations within its borders. Among these documents most essentials ones for urban poor including migrants and unregistered children/ youth are domicile/residential documents, aadhar card/ration card/voter identity cards, bank account, caste/community certificate, disability or orphan certificates and income certificates. These documents are equally important apart from Birth certificates to access various types of governments entitlements especially, in the fields of education, Job, health care, social security, judicial protection etc. Production of required documentary proof of identity, nativity, caste, religion etc as per the case, has become integral to the service delivery system. It is being the case, access to these important services and benefits is denied to those who are unable to produce the supporting documentary evidence even if they belong to the categories for whom the respective entitlements are meant for. It affects the most to the deprived and vulnerable sections of the society especially, the SCs, STs, children without parents, children of poor single mother and single father, street children etc. Birth Certificate
Caste/Community certificate
Nativity /Residential/Dom icile Certificate
Income Certificate
AADHAAR card
Voter Identity card
Bank account
Orphan certificate
Disability Certificate 6
List of acceptable documents as Proof of Identity and Proof of Address from General Public in the Country except in J&K, North East and Assam Service Areas(web: https://dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/2016_11_18%20POIA-AS-II.pdf?download=1)
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RATIONALE FOR THE STUDY Street children make up a large percentage of the invisible urban poor population and are adversely affected by how their identity is shaped in urban area.7 These children’s families lack legal identity documents and face a range of problems, as follows: these people cannot register their residency, have utilities installed, or obtain access to credit or get benefits of government’s provisions they are entitled to. Study shows that without legal documentations, the urban poor are constrained in their ability to engage with public officials about service delivery to their homes. This situation is exacerbated in times of disaster, when relief assistance (cash or in-kind) is distributed to the people holding registration records, bank accounts etc. Lack of proof of identity has a negative impact on the protection of rights for children in street situations in relation to education, health and other social services, justice, inheritance and family reunification. Important among all are the birth certificate that plays a crucial role especially during admission in schools or college, hospital benefits etc. as well as an important document to be used to obtain Domicile/Nativity certificates. Similarly, Caste Certificates for SCs, STs and OBCs are equally important because based on valid Caste Certificates, the reserved categories of children would be able to i) waive off a part or the whole of the fees for admission to colleges and vocational training institutions, ii) get seat reservations in educational institutes, iii) get age relaxation for applying to certain jobs or secure jobs in Govt establishments, banks, PSUs etc and iv) get other facilities by the Govt to the members of SC, ST and OBC. Orphan children who can not avail caste certificates are eligible to obtain Orphan certificates to get benefits on the aspects mentioned above. Notably, Rainbow Homes Program aims to rehabilitate, educate and prepare children in street situations for their re-integration into the society upon reaching age of maturity, focusing on the development of their potential and capabilities, so that they can live independent or semiindependent livings as young adults. In order to ensure Young Adults’ (YA) smooth transitioning from Rainbow’s care to adulthood, the organization adopted a coordinated set of transition activities including facilitation of post-secondary education, vocational training, job-related skill trainings with various institutions etc. Among these interventions, the provisions of legal identity documents for YAs stands important to gain access to basic services and protection in the justice system outside Rainbow’s care. More than 90 percent of the children living under the care of Rainbow Homes Program and their families belonging to these marginalized and reserved categories lacking any of such documentary proof to state their date of birth, nativity, caste/ community, religion, economic status, orphan status, disability etc are unable to access to any such services and benefits. Without these identities and entitlement documents, their presence in unaccounted and invisible to the society and system and they remain out of the safety net and protective measures.
7
Social Inclusion and the Urban Poor; Judy L. Baker, Gauri U. Gadgil; July 2017
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Some of the key challenges these children and families face to apply for these identities and entitlement documents are lack of parental proof, lack of place of origin, no birth registration or birth record. As many of them are migrant families having no land record or record of their nativity, they lack community support to ascertain their caste. Lack of proper information and awareness among the children and families and lack of helping hand also are the reasons that is making them perpetual losers of their due entitlements. The young adults of the organization and the team has been struggling to access required legal identity documents, mainly the caste certificate, birth certificates and residential proof as a result of which YAs during transition to adulthood are facing problem in admission for higher studies, vocational trainings, healthcare facilities, job placements, among entitlements. The organizations dealing with children in different circumstances, especially children in street situations, orphan children, stateless children /refugee etc., also struggle to provide the children relevant identity documents. In this given context, Rainbow Home Programme has initiated a concerted effort at internal and external level to extend help the children access their genuine rights and entitlements. At internal level it has been orienting, motivating and supporting the children, their family members and guardians and staff members to access their due entitlements and at external level along with highlighting the issues of these children and families and seeking the attention and necessary support from the concerned government authorities and public representatives. Also, the pertinent issues and challenges are further shared with the like-minded individuals and civil society organizations and collaborate taking effort to find solutions. Hence, the study also tried to understand the processes followed and challenges faced by other child rights organizations working with children, in order to access legal identity documents for children under their care.
METHODOLOGY Objectives Considering the gravity of present situation, the present study carried out detailed interaction with govt officials of relevant department responsible for issuing entitlements for children along with interactions with state/home team and few children under the care of Rainbow Homes, who have gone through process of accessing different entitlements for children. The study aims to provide a detailed process of applying for legal identities for children in difficult circumstances which can serve as important guidelines for child right practitioners. It is hoped that the study will also serve as an important advocacy document to initiate dialogue with policy makers and government authorities to draw a permanent mechanism to look into the
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anomalies that have crept into the whole procedure of issuance and verification of important legal certificates. The major objectives are to understand; -
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The existing Acts, Rules and Amendments for different entitlements across study states, Government’s policies and laid out processes to access different entitlements/ identities for all citizens and/or special social categories in the sample states. The processes adopted by few child care organizations in sample cities in providing legal identity documents to the children in their care. The practical challenges faced by the sample of young adults (16+ age group) and team members under the care of Rainbow Homes Program in accessing legal identity documents, going through the standard laid out processes. The critical challenges faced by rainbow’s YAs who are migrated from other states belonging to particular castes which are not accepted in study states.
Sample selection and study design The study was piloted with a random sample of group of YAs (16-18 years age) under Rainbow’s care to understand challenges faced by them while accessing the entitlement documents. The YAs were categorized into two groups; a) the YAs who accessed some of the legal identity documents and b) the YAs who have not yet applied for identity documents or applied but facing challenges in accessing those. Sample Cities: 5 cities viz. Hyderabad, Kolkata, Bangalore, Patna and Delhi Number of YAs: 15-20 YAs from sample cities for FGDs. Of them, some YAs have not have received most of important legal identity documents whereas some received few documents either through the staff of the organization or through their parents. A sub sample of 3-4 YAs from the mail cohort and 1 or 2 Home team members from each city selected for action research to check practical challenges while applying different legal identity documents. Besides, interactions and interviews with officials of other NGOs also included discussion points to collect their recommendations and reflections on possible solution in providing relevant identity documents to the children who lack parental or documental proof. The organizations selected randomly for the study were: i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii)
Navjeevan Don Bosco, Hyderabad BOSCO Yuva Kendra, Bangalore Baale Maane Trust, Delhi Udayan Care, Delhi Salam Balak Trust, Delhi Sneha Home – Sanlaap – the home for girls SOS Children’s Village, Kolkata
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Types of Legal Identity Documents: Even though there are at least eighteen legal identity documents currently recognized as acceptable proofs of identity in developing countries like India, the present study explores the government laid-down processes and bottlenecks to access the following four major documents required by children and young people to get relevant government provisions. The four major documents studied in the present report are: i) Birth certificate, ii) Nativity/ Domicile Certificate, iii) Caste/ Community certificate and iv) Orphan certificate
Data collection process On the first hand, relevant information on existing Acts, Rules and Amendments for different identity documents, Government’s policies across study states and laid-down processes of accessing various identity documents for citizens/ special social categories were collected through primary literature reviews. Questions such as, what are the different provisions of entitlements/identities in study states; what are the forms/formats to be filled up, what are the documents and registration fees to be submitted to access those entitlements etc. were explored in the literature review phase. Secondly, the study followed qualitative research methods including FGDs with sample young adults of Rainbow Homes across sample cities as well as state team and home team members who have gone through process of accessing different entitlements for children. Individual interviews conducted with govt officials of relevant departments responsible for issuing various legal identity documents to citizens. Apart from that a very small sub-sample of young adults were involved to carry an action research of applying for above mentioned identity documents in their respective cities to document the processes and challenges faced to go by the laid down process. The study envisaged, i) Qualitative Research Method that included, -
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FGDs with Home team or focal persons responsible for coordinating the access to children’s legal identity documents at the sample States. FGD with randomly selected based on two criteria: a) YAs who accessed some of the entitlements and b) YAs who have not yet applied for entitlement documents or applied but facing challenges in accessing those. Individual Interview with NGO representatives from the sample NGOs mentioned above to know the best practices, if any, in accessing legal identity documents. Interview with a randomly selected official from State Government authorized authorities responsible for issuing the documents. Individual interviews with an open – ended questionnaire carried out with officials at different departments in study states. o For Domicile certificate: Tehsildar from Revenue department – Kolkata, Delhi, Bangalore, Patna
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o For Birth certificate: Chief Registrar of Births/ sub-registrar- Birth in Delhi, Patna; Chief Municipal Health Officer-Kolkata. Tehsildar at Municipal Corporation-Delhi; Health & Medical Officer-GHMC Hyderabad o For Caste Certificates: Officials at the office of District Magistrate; District Welfare Officer-Kolkata; Village Revenue Officer(VRO)-Hyderabad; Revenue Department official and Tehsildar-SSLM Bangalore o For “Casteless”/ Orphan certificates: BBMP officials in Bangalore; Sakala Administration-Bangalore
ii) Action Research Method that included, -
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Selection of a sub sample of 3-4 YAs from the main sample in each city and 1 or 2 Home team of each sample city who can apply for identity documents through Offline/ Online Modes Documentation of application processes, Time taken, Amount of money spent, challenges/bottlenecks faced etc.
FGDs with young adults and Team members were arranged either at the Rainbow Homes or state office premises in sample states. A semi-structured questionnaire guided the FGDs to keep the discussion focused and gather information on the challenges faced by them while applying for identity documents either through home team or through their parents. All the interviews were audio taped with prior consent from the children as well as home team members and later transcribed verbatim, which formed the database for this study. The study neither attempted to consolidate qualitative information nor aimed to provide any comparative analysis of the laid down processes in study states. Instead, the study aimed to provide detailed guideline on possible ways in accessing the major legal identification documents which might be followed by the organization in future.
Ethical considerations Alike all other research studies undertaken by Rainbow Homes Program, this study also followed the organization’s ethical protocols to maintain confidentiality, privacy and dignity of the Rainbow’s young adults as well as stakeholders involved in the study. Before taking the Rainbow’s young adults into focused group discussions, the objectives of the study were clearly explained by both the research team as well as the state team members and the information provided by them has been used after due consent of the young adults. Similarly, data from the representatives of NGOs studies for this research were collected after clearly explaining the objectives and taking due consent about usage of information provided by them.
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CHALLENGES AND LIMITATIONS -
Very few organizations found to initiate application procedures for accessing legal identification for children under care and mostly relied on agents to have hassle free access to such documentations. Responses and opinions from stakeholders and young children have been taken as they were narrated. No mechanism to validate responses provided by the stakeholders on their efforts in accessing documents for children under their care because of lack of documents on entitlement interventions shared by them.
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The study was based on very small sample size of young adults under the care of Rainbow Homes Program whereas a large chunk of them lacks important identity documents. Due to small sample size, the findings may not be representative of the experiences of the cross section of special category sector of population who struggles to get access to identification because of lack of documental proof. Hence, the findings on challenges faced by the special category section of the population cannot be considered as an exhaustive list because all varied challenges faced by them or their parents in accessing legal documents might not have been captured in this pilot study.
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Chapter 2: Legislative and Policy Frameworks INTERNATIONAL COMMITMENTS Commitments on identifications and identity documents The first multilateral international treaty on nationality, adopted in 1930, aimed at establishing common rules to ensure that every person had a nationality, and just one nationality—while leaving states a large degree of sovereign discretion in determining who were their nationals.1 The international human rights regime established since the second World War presumes that states should respect and protect the rights of all those within their territories, whether nationals or not, and guarantees most rights to ‘everyone’. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights also provides that “Everyone has the right to a nationality” and the framework of international treaties has since elaborated on that right, including the Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which every UN member state except the USA is a party, and the conventions prohibiting discrimination (June 2016, Bronwen Manby). A range of international and regional human rights establish the right of every person to recognition as a person before the law, meant to ensure legal status and capacity to exercise rights and enter into contractual obligations. Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) Article 6 states that “Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law”, regardless of whether they are citizens or immigrants, students or tourists, workers or refugees, or any other group. Article 16 of International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) also states right to recognition before the law. The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families adopted by General Assembly in 1990 stated in Article 24 that ‘Every migrant worker and every member of his or her family shall have the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law’. Recognition of children is “Where a child is illegally deprived of mentioned in Article 8. The Convention on the some or all of the elements of his or her Rights of the Child requires states to respect the identity, States Parties shall provide right of the child “to preserve his or her identity appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his (including nationality, name and family relations)” or her identity.”--UNCRC, Article 8 and, “where a child is illegally deprived of some or 1
The Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws, 1930.
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all of the elements of his or her identity, to provide appropriate assistance and protection, with a view to re-establishing speedily his or her identity.” The 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness requires states to grant nationality to a person in some circumstances, notably, to a child born in the territory of that state where the child would otherwise be stateless and to a child found in the territory of unknown parents, and also places limits on the deprivation of nationality.2 Convention on the ‘Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’ that was instituted in 1981 by UN and ratified by India in 1993 defines discrimination against women as "...any distinction, exclusion or restriction made on the basis of sex which has the effect or purpose of impairing or nullifying the recognition, enjoyment or exercise by women, irrespective of their marital status, on a basis of equality of men and women, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural, civil or any other field.3 The UN Human Rights Council has repeatedly affirmed that arbitrary deprivation of nationality is a violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms because persons without nationality may have difficulty accessing basic rights such as education, healthcare, employment and freedom of movement and hence States shall introduce safeguards to prevent statelessness by granting their nationality to persons who would otherwise be stateless.4 Article 15 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides that “[e]very one has the right to a nationality” and that “[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality.” Enshrining citizenship and the right to be free from arbitrary deprivation of citizenship as human rights in and of themselves, article 15 of the UDHR establishes the bedrock legal relationship between individuals and states. While all states are bound to respect the human rights of all individuals without distinction, an individual's legal bond to a particular state through citizenship remains in practice an essential prerequisite to the enjoyment and protection of the full range of human rights.5
United Nations Legal Identity Agenda6 As per the UN operational agenda, Legal identity is defined as the basic characteristics of an individual's identity. e.g., name, sex, place and date of birth conferred through registration and the issuance of a certificate by an authorized civil registration authority following the 2
Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961 The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); webhttps://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm 4 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/Nationality.aspx. 5 Mirna Adjami, Julia Harrington; 18 September 2008; Refugee Survey Quarterly, Volume 27, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 93–109, 6 https://unstats.un.org/legal-identity-agenda/ 3
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occurrence of birth. In the absence of birth registration, legal identity may be conferred by a legally-recognized identification authority. This system should be linked to the civil registration system to ensure a holistic approach to legal identity from birth to death. The United Nations Legal Identity Agenda builds on the existing methodological framework for civil registration and vital statistics as developed under the auspices of the International Programme for Accelerating the Improvement of Vital Statistics and Civil Registration Systems and expands it to ensure a holistic and interoperable approach between civil registration, vital statistics production and identity management. In the UN agenda, proof of legal identity is defined as a credential, such as birth certificate, identity card or digital identity credential that is recognized as proof of legal identity under national law and in accordance with emerging international norms and principles. On the other hand, Civil registration is defined as the continuous, permanent, compulsory and universal recording of the occurrence and characteristics of vital events pertaining to the population, as provided through decree or regulation is accordance with the legal requirement in each country. Civil registration is carried out primarily for the purpose of establishing the documents provided by the law. Economically backward section of the population in any country particularly migrants, homeless and unregistered youths become socially and financially excluded as they lack official identification documents, or cannot provide valid proofs of their addresses. United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) set specific targets and indicators to ensure that all segments of society are able to obtain, and meaningfully use, an official proof of identity which in turn would stimulate economic and social developments. The SDG 16 promotes peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels; significantly reduce all forms of violence and related death rates everywhere. The target 16.9, that is "provide every person with a legal identity, including birth registration, by 2030" is the key to advance the 2030 Agenda commitment to leave no one behind. Equally relevant is the Goal 17 that talks about strengthening the means of implementation and revitalize the Global partnership for sustainable development through Target 17.19 — support to statistical capacity-building in developing countries, monitored by the indicator "proportion of countries that have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration". Improving access to identity will also enable the international community to effectively address SDG 11, which aims to make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable. SDG Goal 16.9: By 2030, provide legal identity for all, including birth registration; Indicator 16.9.1 - Proportion of children under 5 years of age whose births have been registered with a civil authority, by age.
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Target 17.19: By 2030, build on existing initiatives to develop measurements of progress on sustainable development that complement gross domestic product, and support statistical capacity-building in developing countries Indicator 17.19.2: Proportion of countries that (a) have conducted at least one population and housing census in the last 10 years; and (b) have achieved 100 per cent birth registration and 80 per cent death registration. SDG Goal 11: Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
NATIONAL COMMITMENTS: Equality, Entitlements and Constitutional safeguards The concept of equality refers to treating all individuals equally in the eyes of law, discarding any unfairness on grounds of caste, race, religion, place of birth and sex. “Right to Equality” is one of the six fundamental rights in the Indian constitution. Recognising the relative backwardness of the weaker sections of the society, the Constitution of India guarantees equality through article 14 to 18. Article 14 guarantees to all, equality before law and equal protection of laws. The President and the Government are an exception to the equality mandate. Article 15 prohibits discrimination against any citizen on ground of religion, race, caste, sex or place of birth of any of them. This article was amended by 93rd Amendment, 2005 for providing reservations to SCs, STs and Backward Classes in private unaided educational institutions. Article 16 provides for equality of opportunity in the matters of public employment, whereas Article 17 abolishes untouchability. Entitlements are understood as “a government scheme that provides benefits to any individual meeting certain eligibility requirements.” Entitlements are welfare measures entailing government handouts. They include money, material items, services, and various forms of aid and assistance. “Reservations” are an important form of entitlement for weaker sections of the society in India. Reservation is the process of setting aside a certain percentage of seats vacancies in educational institutions, government institutions. There is a reservation of 15 per cent for the scheduled castes and 7.5 per cent for the scheduled tribes in the matter of admission in all the educational institutions. The reservation of 12½ per cent for scheduled castes and 5 per cent for scheduled tribes continued after the coming into force of the Constitution of India. Reservations have also been provided in posts filled by promotion. The
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benefit of reservation in various posts and services under the Central or State Government has not been derived uniformly by all the SC/ST communities. The concept of reservation for marginal communities has its genesis in the Constitution of India. Articles 46, 243. 330, 332, 334, 335, 338, 340, 341, 342 of the Constitution of India have provisions of reservation concerning SC & OBC. Article 46: Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and other weaker sections. Article 243D: Reservation of seats in Panchayats Article 243T: Reservation of seats in Municipalities Article 330: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People. Article 332: Reservation of seats for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assemblies of the States- the number of seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes in the Legislative Assembly of any State under clause (1) shall bear, as nearly as may be, the same proportion to the total number of seats in the Assembly as the population of the Scheduled Castes in the State or of the Scheduled Tribes in the State or part of the State, as the case may be, in respect of which seats are so reserved, bears to the total population of the State Article 334: Reservation of seats and special representation to cease after seventy years- the reservation of seats for the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes in the House of the People and in the Legislative Assemblies of the States shall cease to have effect on the expiration of a period of seventy years from the commencement of this Constitution. Article 335: Claims of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes to services and posts. —The claims of the members of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes shall be taken into consideration, consistently with the maintenance of efficiency of administration, in the making of appointments to services and posts in connection with the affairs of the Union or of a State. Article 338 and 338(A): National Commission for Scheduled Castes and National Commission for Scheduled Tribe to regulate its own procedure and investigate matters relating to safeguards provided for the SCs & STs under the constitution, under any laws or under any order of the Government. The Commission shall consist of a Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and three other Members and the conditions of service and tenure of office of the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson and other Members so appointed shall be such as the President may by rule determine. Article 340: Appointment of a Commission to investigate the conditions of backward classes. The President may by order appoint a Commission consisting of such persons as he thinks fit Page | 15
to investigate the conditions of socially and educationally backward classes within the territory of India. Article 341: Defining Scheduled Caste: The President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the castes, races or tribes or parts of or groups within castes, races or tribes which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Castes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case may be. Article 342: Defining Scheduled Tribe: The President may with respect to any State or Union territory, and where it is a State, after consultation with the Governor thereof, by public notification, specify the tribes or tribal communities or parts of or groups within tribes or tribal communities which shall for the purposes of this Constitution be deemed to be Scheduled Tribes in relation to that State or Union territory, as the case may be. The Constitution of India aims to establish not only political democracy but also socioeconomic justice to the people to establish a welfare state. With this purpose in mind, our Constitution lays down desirable principle and guidelines in Part IV known as the Directive Principle of State Policy. Directive Principles of State Policy Articles 38, 39, 41, 45, 46 and 47 in Part IV (“Directive Principles of State Policy”) of the Constitution are especially relevant for disadvantaged sections Article 38.1: The State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people by securing and protecting as effectively as it may a social order in which justice, social, economic and political, shall inform all the institutions of the national life. Article 38. 2: The State shall, in particular, strive to minimise the inequalities in income, and endeavour to eliminate inequalities in status, facilities and opportunities, not only amongst individuals but also amongst groups of people residing in different areas or engaged in different vocations. Article 39: The State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing— a) that the citizens, men and women equally, have the right to an adequate means of livelihood; b) that the ownership and control of the material resources of the community are so distributed as best to subserve the common good; c) that the operation of the economic system does not result in the concentration of wealth and means of production to the common detriment; d) that the health and strength of workers, men and women, and the tender age of children
are not abused and that citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength;
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e) that children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity and that childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment. Article 41: Right to work, to education and to public assistance in certain cases. As instructed in this article, the State shall, within the limits of its economic capacity and development, make effective provision for securing the right to work, to education and to public assistance in cases of unemployment, old age, sickness and disablement, and in other cases of undeserved want. Article 45: Provision for free and compulsory education for children. It says that the State shall endeavour to provide, within a period of ten years from the commencement of this Constitution, for free and compulsory education for all children until they complete the age of fourteen years. Article 46: Promotion of educational and economic interests of Scheduled Castes and other weaker sections. It says that the State shall promote with special care the educational and economic interests of the weaker sections of the people, and in particular, of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes, and shall protect them from social injustice and all forms of exploitation. Article 47: Duty of the State to raise the level of nutrition and the standard of living and to improve public health. It says that the State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties and, in particular, the State shall endeavor to bring about prohibition of the consumption except for medicinal purpose of intoxicating drinks and of drugs which are injurious to health.
Legislations and Government Orders Legislations on “Reservations” The Central Educational Institutions (CEIs) (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 The Central Educational Institutions(CEIs) (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2006 provides for the reservation of students belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs)/ Scheduled Tribes (STs) and Other Backward Classes (OBCs) of citizens to the extent of 15%, 7.5% and 27%, respectively, in Central Educational Institutions (CEIs) established, maintained or aided by the Central Government subject to exceptions provided under Section 4 of the Act and subject to special provisions for regions specified in the amendment to the Act in 2012. The implementation of the provisions of the CEI Act, 2006 in Central Educational Institutions is being followed in letter and spirit. The West Bengal State Higher Educational Institutions (Reservation in Admission) Act, 2013 & Rule 2014 The act provides for reservation of seats for admission of the students belonging to the Scheduled Castes, the Scheduled Tribes and the Other Backward Classes of West Bengal to certain Higher Educational Institutions in the State of West Bengal, established, maintained or aided by the State Government to enable and encourage them to get access to the higher education. As per the provisions in the act, out of the total annual permitted strength in each stream of every Higher Page | 17
Educational Institution, 22-two percent seats shall be reserved for the students belonging to Scheduled Castes; 6 percent seats shall be reserved for the students belonging to Scheduled Tribes; 10 percent seats shall be reserved for the persons belonging to Other Backward Classes of CategoryA and 7 percent seats shall be reserved for the students belonging to Other Backward Classes of Category-B. However, the act says that the reservation of seats in any Higher Educational Institution made under this act shall, under no circumstances, exceed beyond fifty percent of the total annual permitted strength of any such Institution for any particular academic session. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation in Posts and Services) Bill, 2008 - The bill seeks to reserve a prescribed percentage of posts in the civil services for members of the Scheduled Castes (SC) and Scheduled Tribes (ST) in certain establishments. The establishments include any government department, any public sector undertaking or statutory authority constituted by a Central Act, a university established by a Central Act, government owned or aided primary, secondary schools and other educational institutions, any business owned or managed by the government, or any autonomous body receiving money from the Consolidated Fund of India. - The Bill increases the maximum age limit for direct recruitment to a post by 5 years for SC/STs. Qualifications regarding experience required for SC/STs, the qualifying standard on examinations, and any general standard of suitability for direct recruitment are all lowered if sufficient numbers of candidates from these communities are not available on the basis of general standards. Examination and application fees are reduced for SC/STs. The West Bengal Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Reservation of vacancies in Services and Posts) Act, 1976 The act provides for the reservation of vacancies in services and posts for the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. The act extended to whole West Bengal for the members of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes who are backward classes of citizens are not adequately represented in the services and posts within the State. After the commencement of this Act all appointments to services and posts in an establishment which are to be filled up by direct recruitment shall be regulated subject to the other provisions of this Act- i) 22 percent of the vacancies shall be reserved for candidates belonging to Scheduled Castes and ii) 6 percent for candidates belonging to Scheduled Tribes. A candidate who claim to be a member of the Scheduled Castes or the Scheduled Tribes shall support his candidature by a certificate of identification in accordance with the provisions of the West Bengal Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Identification) Act, 1994. The West Bengal Backward Classes (Other than SC&ST) (Reservation in Services and Posts) Act 2012 The act makes provision for the reservation of appointments or posts in favour of any Backward Classes of citizens which in the opinion of the State is not adequately represented in the services under the State. After the commencement of this Act, all appointments to services and posts in establishments which are to be filled up by direct recruitment shall be regulated subject to the provisions of this Act- i) 10 percent of the vacancies shall be reserved for candidates belonging to the Other Backward Classes denoted as "Other Backward Classes Category A" category and ii) 7 percent of the vacancies shall be reserved for candidates belonging to the "Other Backward Classes Category B" category of the Other Backward Classes. A candidate who claims to be a member of either Other Backward Classes Category A or Other Backward Classes Category B category shall support his candidature by such certificate of identification to be issued by the competent authority.
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Some Legislations on issuance of Legal Identity documents The Andhra Pradesh (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993 It was brought to the notice of the Government that candidates who seek employment in Government Departments, Public Sector Undertakings and such other organisations and candidates seeking admission into educational institutions, against the vacancies or the seats reserved for the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes are producing false community certificates and securing employment or seats. Therefore, the benefits of special provisions made for the advancement of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes in the matter of public employment and educational opportunities are not reaching such Castes, Tribes and Classes. The act mentions that any person belonging SC, ST or OBC may in order to claim the benefit of any reservations either for any public appointment or for admission into any educational institution or access any other benefit under any special provisions or for the purpose of contesting for elective post, need to make application to the competent authority. The competent authority would satisfy itself about the genuineness or otherwise of the claim made therein and thereafter issue a Community Certificate or reject the application for reasons to be recorded in writing. A certificate in regard to community issued by any person, officer or authority other than the Competent Authority shall be invalid. Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes – Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules, 1997 Under Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes – Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules, 199, every applicant/parent/guardian who belongs to a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe, Backward Class, desirous of declaring his social status as that of a Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe or a Backward Class, shall submit an application in the prescribed Form I/II to the Competent Authority, well in advance i.e., six months, as far as possible particularly when seeking admission to the educational institutions or appointment to a post. The Competent Authority shall then verify the information/documents/evidence furnished by the applicant/parent/guardian in Form I/II. If the Competent Authority is satisfied with the correctness of the information/documents/evidence furnished by the applicant/parent/guardian, he shall issue the Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificates. If the Competent Authority feels that further enquiry is necessary, he shall then examine the school records, birth registration certificate, if any, and also examine the parent/guardian or applicant, in relation to his/her/their community. The Competent Authority shall have power to call for further information and/or collect such evidence/document and also conduct such enquiry, if deemed necessary.
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The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010; The Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 The Unique Identification Bill was proposed to Parliament in 2010 by Planning ministry. The Bill seeks to establish the National Identification Authority of India (NIAI) to issue unique identification numbers (called ‘Aadhar’) to residents of India based on the residents’ biometric data. The Aadhar number along with the individual‘s biometrics will become a form of authentication in transactions. A resident can use his Aadhar number to identify himself anywhere in the country in order to access certain benefits and services. The Bill seeks to establish the National Identification Authority and lay down the properties of Aadhar, process of issuing the Aadhar and safeguards for protection of privacy of Aadhar number holders. Along with establishing the UID Authority, the Bill establishes enrolling agencies, registrars, and an Identity Review Committee to monitor the usage patterns of Aadhar numbers. Additionally, the Bill legalizes the creation of the Central Identities Data Repository – a centralized database that will contain both Aadhar numbers and the corresponding biometric information of enrolled residents. As per the Bill, all individuals who wish to obtain an Aadhar number must provide his/her demographic and biometric information. Individuals will not be required to provide information pertaining to their race, religion, case, tribe, ethnicity, language, income or health, but through regulation the Authority is enabled to specify demographic and biometric information for enrolment. The main issue in the bill was that it did not make it mandatory for an individual to enrol with the NIAI. However, it does not prevent any service provider from prescribing Aadhar as a mandatory requirement for availing services. The Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) bill, 2016 intends to provide for targeted delivery of subsidies and services to individuals residing in India by assigning them unique identity numbers, called Aadhar numbers. To verify the identity of a person receiving a subsidy or a service, the government may require them to have an Aadhar number. If a person does not have an Aadhar number, government will require them to apply for it, and in the meanwhile, provide an alternative means of identification. Any public or private entity can accept the Aadhar number as a proof of identity of the Aadhar number holder, for any purpose. However, Aadhar number cannot be a proof of citizenship or domicile. The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 The act provides for the regulation of registration of births and deaths in India. The database of births and deaths is used by both for the census and for the National Indian Database. The Act creates the Registrar of India as the overseeing Authority in charge of implementing the provisions of the Act. Authorities under the Registrar General include the Chief General, the
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District Registrar, and Registrars. As per section 8, information to the Registrar required to be entered in the forms prescribed by the State Government under sub-section (1) of section 16. -
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In case of birth or death in houses, the head of the house or, in case more than one household live in the house, the head of the household or in case the head of the house/household not present in the house at any time during the period within which the birth or death has to be reported, the nearest relative of the head present in the house or the oldest adult male person present therein should provide information of birth/death to the Registrar. In respect of births and deaths in a hospital, health centre, maternity or nursing home or other like institution, the medical officer in charge or any person authorised by him in this behalf should provide information of birth/death to the Registrar. In respect of births and deaths in a jail, the jailor in charge should provide information of birth/death to the Registrar. in respect of births and deaths in a choultry, chatram, hostel, dharmasala, boardinghouse, lodging-house, tavern, barrack, toddy shop or place of public resort, the person in charge thereof should provide information of birth/death to the Registrar. In respect of any new-born child or dead body found deserted in a public place, the headman or other corresponding officer of the village in the case of a village and the officer in charge of the local police station elsewhere should provide information of birth/death to the Registrar. Provided that any person who finds such child or dead body, or in whose charge such child or dead body may be placed, shall notify such fact to the headman or officer aforesaid
Section 13 talks about registration process for the delayed information of births and deaths. -
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Any birth or death of which information is given to the Registrar after the expiry of the period specified therefor, but within thirty days of its occurrence, shall be registered on payment of such late fee as may be prescribed. Any birth or death of which delayed information is given to the Registrar after thirty days but within one year of its occurrence shall be registered only with the written permission of the prescribed authority and on payment of the prescribed fee and the production of an affidavit made before a notary public or any other officer authorised in this behalf by the State Government. Any birth or death which has not been registered within one year of its occurrence, shall be registered only on an order made by a magistrate of the first class or a Presidency Magistrate after verifying the correctness of the birth or death and on payment of the prescribed fee. The provisions of this section shall be without prejudice to any action that may be taken against a person for failure on his part to register any birth or death within the time specified therefor and any such birth or death may be registered during the pendency of any such action
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The Registrar will give to the person registering a birth, a copy of the extract free of charge. Only the registrar, if satisfied that an entry in the register is incorrect or fraudulent, may correct, alter, or cancel entry. The Chief Registrar is responsible for compiling and standardizing the prescribed forms for registration. The Chief Registrar will be responsible for compiling and publishing the collected information in a statistical report. The Registrar may orally or in writing require any person to furnish information that is in connection with a birth or death. The individual is required to comply with such a request. Failure to do so results in a fine. The Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (DNTs) (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000 The act provides for the regulation of the issuance and verification of the Caste Certificates to the persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category. As per the act, any person belonging to any of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes or Special Backward Category, required to produce a Caste Certificate in order to claim the benefit of any reservation provided to such Castes, Tribes or Classes, either in any public employment or for admission into any educational institution, or any other benefit or for the purpose of contesting for elective post in any local authority or in the Co-operative Societies ; or for purchase or transfer of land from a tribal land-holder or any other purposes specified by the Government, shall apply to the Competent Authority for the issue of a Caste Certificate. The competent authority after satisfying itself about the genuineness of the claim and following the procedure as prescribed, issue a Caste Certificate to the applicant or reject the application for reasons to be recorded in writing. A Caste Certificate issued by any person, officer or authority other than the Competent Authority shall be invalid. The Caste Certificate issued by the Competent Authority shall be valid only subject to the verification and grant of validity certificate by the Scrutiny Committee constituted by Government for verification of Caste Certificates issued by the Competent Authorities in the area of jurisdiction of each of such Scrutiny Committee or Committees. The Orphan Child (Provision of Social Security) Bill, 20167 Considering that there is no comprehensive legislation or policy that addresses the issues faced by orphan children in India and that lack of identity acts as barrier to access public services and benefits of Government schemes and entitlements, the Orphan Child (Provision of Social Security) Bill, seeks to provide for formulation of a comprehensive legislation
7
http://164.100.47.4/billstexts/lsbilltexts/asintroduced/2385.pdf
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covering the needs of orphans, in general, but focuses primarily upon the needs of the orphan children who are at high risk of abuse, exploitation and neglect. The bill says that The Central Government shall, in consultation with State Governments, conduct and publish the survey of orphan children after every ten years along with census to identify socio-economic status of orphan children, data on the cause and effect of becoming orphans and demographic profiles of orphan children and conduct performance appraisal of existing orphan children welfare schemes and programmes. The bill aimed at formulating National Policy for the welfare of orphan children. The Central Government shall, as soon as may be, by notification in the Official Gazette, constitute a Fund to be known as the Orphan Children Welfare Fund, with an initial corpus of rupees two thousand crores, to be provided by the Central Government to be utilised for rehabilitation and welfare of orphan children. The bill also envisaged establishment of Foster Care Homes by the Government to provide free of cost boarding and lodging and such other facilities to the orphan children. Government Order: Inclusion of Orphan and Destitute Children in the list of BCs for the State of Telangana The Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of Telangana, in the G.O.Ms. No. 28 introduced inclusion of Orphan and Destitute Children in the list of BCs. issue of categorizing orphans and destitute children as a Backward Class. The Member Secretary, National Commission for Backward Classes (NCBC), GoI, New Delhi has requested Government of Telangana in Backward Classes Welfare Department to formulate an opinion and also requested to have view and suggestions on the process of identification of such orphans/destitute children and also the procedure for issuing such certificates to the really deserving cases so as to prevent misuse of such facility if it is given to such children. Telangana Government after careful examination of the matter, have decided “to classify ‘orphans and destitute children’ who satisfy all the three conditions mentioned below as Backward Class for extension of benefits and concessions normally admissible to Backward Classes: i) ii) iii)
Who have lost both their parents before reaching the age of 10 and are destitute; Who have nobody else to take care of them either by law or custom and Who are admitted into any of the schools / orphanages run by the Government or recognised by the Government
As per the GO, the orphans and destitute Children shall be conferred with the benefit of reservation as Backward Class `in appointments to public services and admissions into educational institutions under the State Government’. The orphans and destitute children shall be included in the list of Backward Classes for the State of Telangana under Group-A, at serial number 55, as was done by the Government of Tamil Nadu vide their GO Ms.No.534, Social Welfare & Nutritious Meal Programme Department, dated 06.11.1990. Page | 23
Chapter 3: Assessing Importance, Constraints & Progress The exclusion of poor from access to opportunities and activities is a nonmaterial aspect of poverty and one of the common and determining factors for such exclusion is lack of an identity documents among the poor. As explained in previous chapters, Legal identity is understood to be the combination of factors that enable a person to access rights, benefits, and responsibilities; that is, the legal registration and documentation of name, personal data, date of birth, and unique identification, whether in the form of biometric data or a unique identifying number. A study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) (2000) emphasizes the links between poverty, vulnerability, and the multifaceted implications of not having a legal identity for the ability to access social programs and government benefits. To be undocumented means to be denied opportunities and possibilities to exercise civil and social rights. In practical terms, there is no distinction between an undocumented person whose birth was never registered and one whose birth was registered, but who never obtained his or her national identity document. As such, this has a direct effect on possibilities and opportunities for full participation in social, political, and economic life. This chapter explores the significance of registration and legal identity documents, constraints in registration and consequences of lacking the same and magnitude of the problem globally as well as among the sample of this study.
SIGNIFICANCE OF REGISTRATION AND ACCESSING LEGAL IDENTITY DOCUMENTS Why Birth Registration?
No birth registration means no nationality and unregistered children are at the risk of becoming stateless when they are not able to prove parentage or place of birth. A Birth Certificate is the most important identity document that makes it possible for anyone in possession of it to benefit from a gamut of services offered by the Indian Government to its citizens. It becomes necessary to obtain a Birth Certificate because it serves to establish the date and fact of one’s birth for a whole range of purposes, like acquiring the right to vote, admission to schools and to the Government Service, claiming the right to marry at the legally permissible age, settlement of inheritance and property rights, and obtaining Government-issued identity documents like a driving licence or passport. Birth certificate helps in prevention of child marriage and exploitations of children as child labourers in labour markets.
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Why Aadhar Card?
Why Community/Caste certificates?
Why domicile/nativity/ residential certificates?
Unregistered children in particular can be at risk of sexual exploitation, trafficking and being treated as adults in the justice system, as there is no proof of legal age. Birth registration protects children from recruitment into armed groups by providing proof of their age and identity, and to prosecute abductors by legally establishing a child’s age at the time of recruitment Aadhar Card can be used as proof of identity, proof of address as well as proof of age when applying for any government service across India. One of the most important uses of Aadhar card is that it permits the holder to avail of all government subsidies he/she is eligible for. Since the government already has all the necessary data on a particular individual, they need only produce their Aadhar card in order to avail of the various subsidies or programmes. Aadhar Card helps to get mobile connection, gas connection, opening a bank account, accessing scholarships/ monthly pensions etc, Aadhar card act as identity during train travels. The Jan Dhan Yojna accepts your Aadhar Card Number as the only document for the opening of a bank account. Individuals who wish to obtain a passport can apply for the same online by simply attaching their Aadhar Card as the only residence and identity proof along with their application. Community or Caste certificates act as proof of one’s belonging to a particular caste (reserved categories) as specified in the Indian Constitution Caste certificate provides reservation quota in the government jobs as well as job promotions in the State Government for those who belong to Scheduled Castes/Tribes or Other Backward Classes. Caster certificates can also be used for reservation of seats in the Legislatures and in the Government Service, waiving of a part or the whole of the fees for admission to schools and colleges, quotas in educational institutions, preferred admissions in government-run hostels; relaxation of upper age limits for applying to certain jobs, etc. Apart from these uses, it also helps the holder get the various kinds of schemes from the Central Government, State Government and NGO’s. For example, scholarship schemes, fee reimbursement schemes, waive off in certain schemes etc. Domicile certificate is required to apply for resident reservation quota in the Government sector. Domicile certificate is used to obtain admissions in educational institutions. Domicile certificate is an important document to claim for a ration card. The Domicile Certificate is used for many other purposes by the public such as applying for Passport, Visa etc. The Domicile Certificate use as proof of your permanent residency. The Government Service, as also in the case of jobs where residents are preferred.
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CONSEQUENCES OF LACK OF IDENTIFICATION Link between legal identity, birth registration and the risk of statelessness Lack of identification can make people more vulnerable to trafficking, for example by making it more difficult to prove a person’s age or family relationships. Those who lack identity documents may face greater difficulties proving their entitlement to nationality or to refugee status discrimination (June 2016, Bronwen Manby). The World Bank has an estimate of around 1.5 billion people worldwide lacking official identification.1 UNHCR states that the number of stateless persons is “at least 10 million,” of whom 3.5 million are in countries with at least some reasonable data on the number.2 Though the importance of identification depends on national context of a country and the degree to which identity documents in a country are pre-requisite for access to services and exercise of rights, yet lack of identification affects particularly poor families, migrant families and their children who travels to cities in search of livelihood. Firstly, lack of identity documents including proof of nationality for people, especially poor, migrants and their children make it difficult or impossible to access basic services such as health care, education for children, and social benefits or obtain legal employment. Secondly, lack of documents and nationality lead to problems in registering birth, death or marriage. Thirdly, lack of documents reduces protection of human rights because with identity documents people would be subjected to harassment, labour exploitation and trafficking. Fourthly, from the point of view of Government managing forcibly displaced populations, a rapid and unmanaged influx of undocumented people has implications for security, crime prevention and detection, the provision of public services, and the economy of a country.3 A study (June 2016, Bronwen Manby) suggest that forced displacement is itself both a cause and consequence of lack of identification, and the proportion of forcibly displaced persons who are undocumented may be significant in some contexts. That means, documents can be lost or destroyed as a result of the conflict or disaster that force people to flee their homes or migrate to other cities. On the other hand, lack of identification documents may even be the proximate cause of displacement because undocumented migrants are at risk of expulsion by governments even if they are entitled to nationality there, or have no meaningful connection or documentation in any other country (June 2016, Bronwen Manby). -
Forced displacement Lack of ID Documents are lost or left Documents destroyed by traffickers or labour employers
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Lack of ID Forced displacement Lack of official identification creates grounds of illegal presence
1
World Bank, Identification for Development Strategic Framework, January 2016.
2
UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014–24, November 2014.
3
Bronwen M, Identification in the context of forced displacement
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Births cannot be registered without evidential proof Orphans and children separated from their parents have nobody to attest to their origins
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Mass expulsions by the Government of people whose nationality are not recognised Lack of documentation facilitates human trafficking, especially of children Illegal migration to neighbourhood countries because general exclusion in one country due to lack of identification
Source: Bronwen M, Identification in the context of forced displacement
Barriers and Disparities: Vulnerability among Children in CCIs A child who lives in a poor, rural and/or indigenous family that cannot prove his or her identity (with a birth certificate) will more likely be excluded from receiving a scholarship, or an elderly person that is poor and/or indigenous and does not have an identity document will not be able to access economic assistance. If a woman is poor and/or indigenous and has minor children, she will be excluded from access to economic assistance if she cannot prove her legal identity by means of an identity document, although she is part of the target population that the program is aimed to assist. The children living in child care institutions are the responsibility of the state and yet they do not have access to basic legal entitlements due to various reasons. Lack of legal identity produces exclusions when potential beneficiaries attempt to access benefits offered by the government. Thus, it is necessary to think about long-term strategies based on coordination among responsible agencies in each country, both for birth registration and the issuance of identity documents so that further exclusion of the vulnerable population, particularly ethnic groups and women can be avoided. Legal literacy is also important and the objective of legal literacy is to ensure that citizens, particularly marginalized or underprivileged groups, can obtain the benefits that law seeks to offer them, which stands defeated in case of CLs. Institutionalisation as well as Aftercare did not facilitate CLs to have requisite documents, for domicile, residence proof, and accessing financial services (PAN), except Aadhar and Educational certificate. Children in child care organizations, who are either from marginalised and impoverished families or orphan face steep barriers in registering births and as a consequence, difficulty in accessing other legal identity documents which consider birth certificate as a basic documental proof to apply. This section of the report explores different obstacles in registering births.
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Constraints in Registration: Why are not all children registered at birth? -
Limited access to registration services by poor households especially in rural areas because of lack of knowledge about the registration process: Lack of awareness among communities on importance of birth registration and illiteracy or poor knowledge among parents to apply for birth certificates. Majority of the children and families in rural areas lack knowledge of how to register a child’s birth, acting as a barrier in accessing birth certificates. Studies suggest that one of the relevant disparities in birth registration depend on mother’s education (2019, UNICEF). Only two in five – 41.4% – children with mothers having no education had their births registered and had a birth certificate, compared to three in four – 77.6% – children whose mothers had 12 years or more of education.4
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Living conditions and locations that Affect Under-Registration of Births and Lack of Legal Identity: Living conditions, locality and cultural norms around the care of women giving birth also appear to be barriers to access to timely registration of births and identity documentation, since these factors predominantly affect indigenous households, the poor, and people in rural areas. Villagers being scattered in far flung areas is another cause of non-registration of large chunk of infants. An analysis of 70 countries (about one third of which are low-income countries) shows that urban populations of children fare better in terms of birth registration in about 80 per cent of countries (2018, UNICEF).
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Gender parity and inequality impacting birth registration: Unequal access to education by gender in rural areas creates situation of unequal access to goods, services, and social opportunities between men and women, to the disadvantage of the latter. Divorcee women face difficulty in registering birth for not having ID proof or marriage certificates or if fathers’ names are not present on the form or fathers are not in contact. Similarly, single women, especially Victims of rape or women in prostitutions feel ashamed to register birth for their children if the fathers are unknown or if the father refuses to acknowledge paternity.
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Financial difficulties acting as steep obstacle towards birth registrations to competent authorities: In India, registration of births done within 21 days of the event is free of cost by law but impose some amount of fee post 21 days of the birth to register and obtain certificate as well as fine for late registrations. Poor households find it difficult to pay the fees for application or late fees or may find it difficult to afford the costs associated with birth registrations, travel to the authorities to access the service or nearest registration centres. Studies suggest that children from poorer
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households are less likely than richest counterparts to have their births registered (2019, UNICEF). According to NFHS 4, While 82.3% of children under the age of five in the richest wealth group had their births registered and possessed a birth certificate, only 40.7% in the poorest wealth group did. -
Shortage of manpower in registration units and inadequate monitoring staff to oversee the work of registrations of birth impeding birth registration: Lack of establishment of civil registration offices or citizen service centres in far off areas in the village, shortage of manpower at district and block levels and lack of coordination/ supervision about registration works in many states of India are some more obstacle in registering all births.
MAGNITUDE OF THE PROBLEM: GLOBAL PICTURE -
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The problems associated with citizens not having legal identity continue to be prevalent across the globe. Globally, there are currently an estimated 1.5 billion people5 without the means to officially verify who they are. However, because there is no universal indicator to measure legal identity, this number could be even higher. According to another source (2017 update of the World Bank's Identification for Development (ID4D) Global Dataset), estimated 1.1 billion people worldwide cannot officially prove their identity.6 Three in five children – 62.3% – under the age of five years had their births registered and possessed a birth certificate in 2015-16, according to the 4th round of National Family Health Survey (NFHS-4), the latest data available. This is an improvement from 26.9% in 2005-’06. Another report says that proportion of children under-five registered globally is up around 20% from 10 years ago – increasing from 63% to 75%. Even when children are registered, possession of a birth certificate is less common, with 237 million children under-five globally – or slightly more than 1 in 3 – lacking this official proof of registration. India is among the five countries that are home to half of the world’s 166 million children whose births have not been registered and nearly 24 million children under five years of age in India did not have their births registered in the last five years7. While 79.4% of children under five years have their birth registered as of 201516, only three in five children in that age-group – 62.3% – had proof of that registration
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https://dis-blog.thalesgroup.com/government/2019/06/18/why-is-having-a-legal-identity-fundamental-tohuman-rights/ 6 World Bank's Identification for Development (ID4D) Global Dataset, 2017 7 Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track?
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in the form of a birth certificate, according to NFHS-4. That is, one in six children under five – 17.4% – had their births registered, but did not have birth certificates.8
ASSESSING PROBLEMS OF LACKING LEGAL IDENTITY DOCUMENTS OF CHILDREN UNDER CARE OF RAINBOW HOMES PROGRAM Most of the children living under the care of Rainbow Homes and their families belonging to the marginalized and reserved categories lacking any of documentary proof to state their birth details, nativity, caste/ community, religion, economic status, orphan status, disability etc and are therefore unable to access to any such services and benefits. Birth registrations provide a child legal recognition for existence and a birth certificate is the proof of that process, often the first and the only evidence of legal identity for the child. Children belonging to the poorest sections, scheduled castes and tribes, and families with no schooling are more likely to not have a birth certificate. “For children whose age is below 18 years, who have not voted, or who do not have any board [school examination] certificate, the birth certificate is the only document to provide linkage with parents.”9 Birth certificate is also the only essential certificate that acts as documentation proof to apply for other relevant certificates such as Community/ Caste, Domicile/Residential or Orphan certificate (if available) in any state. As discussed in previous section, caste or community certificates are awarded to individuals that belong to the Scheduled caste and Scheduled Tribes or Other Backward Classes that are documented in the Indian Constitution and are particularly important as it is the proof of ones belonging to a particular caste, especially in case one belongs to any of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled tribes or backward classes and enable a person to negotiate with the state for their rights and opportunities. The rights and opportunities then equip people to improve their life conditions on the one hand and fight the discrimination they are subject to, stemming from the notion of ascriptive superiority, on the other.10 Many of the children under care of RHP are from migrant families whose parents do not have land record or record of their nativity and hence are unable to apply for nativity also. However, as recognised, domicile certificates act as proof of residence to avail Domicile/Resident Quotas in educational institutions and in the Government Service, as also in case of jobs where local residents are preferred. Similarly, income certificate is an important document issued by the state government which specifies the income of an individual or family from all the resources. Income certificate is also said to be an EWS certificate (Economically weaker section), in some states of the country. Basically, this certificate is given to those candidates who belong to the General category but the annual
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https://scroll.in/article/948667/almost-38-of-indian-children-under-the-age-of-five-dont-have-a-birthcertificate 9 https://scroll.in/article/948667/almost-38-of-indian-children-under-the-age-of-five-dont-have-a-birthcertificate 10 https://thewire.in/caste/no-caste-certificate-governance-social-reality
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income of the family from all resources is less than 8 lacs. Only 10% of seats are reserved under this category. However, it does not cover other reserved categories such as OBC (Other backward classes), SC (Scheduled Caste) and ST (Scheduled Tribes). Young Adults under the care of Rainbow Homes Program in sample cities lack most of the important certificates mentioned above, as of data received till July 2020 from sample cities. As per the data (car diagram given below), % YAs lacking Birth Certificates
% eligible YAs lacking Caste Certificates
100 100 80 60 40 20 0
76
68
100 80 60 40 20 0
44 26
100
100
82
100 67 50
44
63
52 50
38
0
14
-
39
100
% YAs lacking Bank Accounts
% YAs lacking Adhaar Certificates 14 12 10 8 6 4 2 0
44
32
% parents of YAs lacking Income Certificates
% YAs lacking Domicile Certificates 100 80 60 40 20 0
100
82
14 11
0
0
60 50 40 30 20 10 0
55
48 25 10
12
Bangalore is lagging behind in terms of accessing birth certificates for YAs followed by Patna;
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Delhi is lagging behind in terms of accessing caste/community certificares for YAs eligible to apply for them; Both Delhi and Bangalore are laggiong behind in terms of accessing Domicile certificates for YAs; Delhi is lagging behind in terms of accessing Income certificates of parents of YAs; Bangalore and Hyderabad lagging behind in terms of providing bank accounts to YAs; Very few YAs under the care of Rainbow Homes in Hyderabad, Kolkata and Bangalore lack Adhaar cards.
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Chapter 4: Laid Down Procedure of Different Legal Identity Documents, State wise SECTION I: ELIGIBILITIES, PLACES OF APPLICATION AND ISSUING OFFICIALS Birth Certificates As explained in previous chapters, Birth Certificate is an important document issued by Government to record a person’s birth and identify them by name, place, date of birth and parentage. According to Registration of Birth & Deaths Act, 1969 every birth has to be registered with the concerned State Government and it is important for all citizens to obtain a birth certificate to avail various facilities provided by Government. It is also the basic legal identity that help to obtain other important legal documents such as, caste, income, domicile certificates as well as Voter’s ID, Driving License, Passport, Marriage Certificate, etc.
Places of applications and Issuing officials In all the sample cities, as per the Birth and Death Registration Act 1969, birth must be registered in concern local authorities within 21 days from date of occurrence go obtain certificate. This section describe the laid down procedure for institutional birth (private or government) as well as domiciliary events of birth/delayed registration across sample cities. -
In West Bengal, in case of birth in private hospitals/nursing homes, the Birth certificates can be obtained from the concerned office of the Borough Ex. Health Officer usually after 6 weeks from the date of birth, subject to the condition that all birth events are reported in prescribed registration format by the private hospitals/ nursing homes within 21 days from the date of occurrence to concerned borough Ex. Health Officer as a mandatory requirement. For Birth occurring in Government hospitals of Kolkata, certificates can be obtained from the concerned Borough Health Office up to a period of 1 (one) year from the date of birth on production of medical certificate of birth issued by the hospital. Birth certificates in Kolkata can be obtained only if the event of birth or death is registered with the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. In Kolkata, Births or deaths occurring in places within the area under KMC jurisdiction can only be registered by the KMC. The entire KMC area is divided into 15 boroughs for administration and the office of the Executive Health Page | 34
Officer of each borough is the Registration Unit for all births occurring within the respective Borough area. Under the existing rules any event of the birth is to be compulsorily registered within 1 year of its occurrence. Domiciliary events of birth shall be reported by the Head of family to the concerned Ward Health Unit for registration within a month but not later than 1 year along with production of medical certificate of birth issued by a Medical Practitioner / Midwife / Traditional Birth Attendant. Birth certificate can be obtained on the spot from the Ward Health Unit. Birth certificates in respect of domiciliary events not reported within one year can be obtained on delayed registration on the basis of orders of FirstClass Magistrate of KMC area from the concerned borough Ex. Health Officer [up to 20 years] and KMC Main Office [beyond 20 years]. -
In Bihar, in case of Birth events in a Nursing Home or Hospital, the person who is authorized by the medical institution is eligible to register the birth either by submitting application form online or submitting application form to the Chief Registrar at Patna Municipal Corporation along with certificate from the person or Medical Institution, who conducted delivery in case of birth within PMC limit. In case of Birth in a house, the head of the household is eligible to register the birth with the concerned authority or apply online. In Bihar, the birth certificate is issued by the Chief Registrar of Birth. To apply for birth certificate in Bihar, the applicant can directly fill up the application forms online in http://nagarseva.bihar.gov.in of Bihar Government. Bihar Government follows online registration both in case of institutional birth or in the presence of any informer such as, police. In case of birth occurrence at police station and neighbour in case of birth at home where head of the house is not present.
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In Telangana, officials mentioned that if birth takes place in Hospitals, nursing homes or medical institutions, such birth is to be reported by the institutions. If birth has taken place at home, it is the responsible of the head of the family or any other family member have to report such births. In case of late registration of birth, separate application form needs to be submitted for obtaining birth certificate in Telangana. In Telangana, the Concerned Authority for registering Birth in Telangana Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration Government of Telangana. To register a Birth event, duly filled application form along with all documents should be submitted to concern MeeSeva centre by hospitals, medical institutions or by head of the family.
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In Delhi also, the head of the household is responsible for registering the birth in case of birth event in house; nursing homes or health centre, any officer authorized by a medical officer is responsible for registering a birth in cases of institutional births; the jail in charge in case of births occur in jails and the person in charge of the vehicle in case of births occurs in moving vehicles are eligible to report the birth to concerned authorities. For Page | 35
hospital birth, the first step towards birth registration is to directly apply to the Tehsildar at Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD). Registration of Birth occurring at home in rural area is being done by vaccinators or Para medical staff. Registration Centres are located in Primary Health Centres, Dispensaries and Mother & Child Welfare Sub Centres located in rural areas. -
In Karnataka, the first step in order to get a Birth Certificate is to approach the BBMP Health Officer of the applicant’s area, in case births took place in Bangalore city (under BBMP jurisdiction). Alternatively, applicants can visit one of the BBMP Citizen Service Centres- Bangalore one’s centres. If the hospital where the birth or death happened is in panchayat limits, i.e., outside BBMP jurisdiction and Bangalore rural & urban, the applicant needs to approach the panchayat offices of the applicant’s area.
Caste/Community Certificates The caste certificate is the most important and useful document for all. This is a certificate / proof that a person belongs from any special and reserved category through which one can get various kinds of benefits. The certificate prove that the persons are able to get the services for reserved category and gives proof that they are from scheduled caste SC, scheduled tribes ST or other backward classes OBC. The certificate helps reserved category persons to get privileges like, getting reservation in seats for legislatures, in government services and schemes, getting the fees concession in various educational institutions/ colleges/ universities along with the recruitments and schemes, quota reservation in jobs/ study as well as getting the relaxation in upper age for jobs etc., as mentioned in previous Chapter.
Places of applications and Issuing officials - In Delhi, caste certificates are provided to a person who is a resident of Delhi, i.e. any citizen whose birthplace or parents belongs to the jurisdiction of the Government of Delhi, whereas OBC certificate are issued to residents of Delhi since 1993. Caste and OBC certificates can be applied in offline mode through Sub-Divisional Magistrate or District Collector in Delhi.
- As per Section 5 of the West Bengal Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Identification) Act, 1994 and Rule 1995, the Sub-Divisional Officer (SDO) of a Sub-Division in a District is the certificate issuing authority. In Kolkata, such certificate is issued by such as officer in the State Government by modification authorizes. The District Welfare Office, Kolkata and Ex-officio Joint Director, BC Welfare Department are the certificate issuing authority in respect of Kolkata covering the jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation. DWO is the issuing authority whereas application to be submitted to Municipal Corporation or Revenue Development office in case applicants are under jurisdiction of KMC. In Rural districts of West Bengal, SDO is the issuing authority whereas application to Page | 36
be submitted in Block Development office. The applications filed online by people living in Block areas are received in Block offices and the application filed online by people in Municipal areas are received at sub-division offices (e.g. in case of Kolkata the sub division office is the District Welfare Office). In case of OBC certificates in West Bengal, the Sub Divisional Officers (SDOs) of the SubDivisions concerned and ADM, South 24 Parganas as assigned by DM, South 24 Parganas, are the competent authorities for issuance of OBC certificates in respect of Sub-Divisions and Kolkata respectively. In Block area, the BDO is the recommending authority in respect of issuance of caste certificates whereas in Municipal corporations, Deputy Magistrate under a sub-division acts as recommending authorities. In Kolkata, BC Welfare Officer act as recommending authority and BC Inspectors or any other officer of same rank acts as enquiring officer in the process of issuing caste certificates. -
In Bihar, the Govt of Bihar and Information technology department had developed a website with the name of “Bihar Lok Sevaon ka Adhikar which means “Bihar Right to Public Services” works towards issuance of caste certificates for all special category candidates such as, scheduled caste, scheduled tribes and other backward classes and issuance of Residential certificate (domicile) online. The Bihar Right to Public Services Act – Bihar Lok Sevaon ke Adhikar Adhiniyam – was implemented in Bihar on August 15, 2011, and made it mandatory for the state government and its agencies to deliver public services to people within a stipulated time frame. Applications for service delivery under the Act are made through the Right to Public Service counters set up in block offices and through the web portal. The issuing authorities of caste certificates (SC/ST/OBC) at different level in Bihar are: o Applications at circle level: Circle officer o Applications at the sub-division level: Sub-Divisional Officer or Authorized officer by the Sub-Divisional Officer at Sub-division office o Applications at the Block level: Authorized officer by the District Magistrate at the District Magistrate office.
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In Telangana, to apply for caste certificates, the applicants need to approach concerned Citizen Service Centre (Meeseva centre) nearby the applicants’ locality and submit the application and supporting documents along with the prescribed fee. MeeSeva operator pursues the online process. Issuing authorities for caste certificate in Telangana are Mandal Revenue Officer (MRO) at the block level or Revenue Divisional Officer (RDO) at the sub-division level or the Sub-Collector / Assistant Collector at the district level. However, the certificate can be received from the concerned MeeSeva centres where application was submitted.
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In Karnataka, caste/community certificates can be received offline from Deputy Tehsildar office or through Nadakachari online portal started by the initiative of Government of Karnataka under the Atalji Janasnehi Kendra Project to provide various services to the citizens like caste certificate, income certificate, Residence/Domicile certificate and birth/death certificates among other services. In order to apply for caste certificate online, the applicants need to use the link www.nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in. Taluk level functionary is authorized for issuing Caste Certificates in Karnataka but the certificate can be downloaded from Nadakacheri portal. Project Nemmadi - a program initiated by the State Government of Karnataka, India Alternative way of availing Caste Certificate in Karnataka is through Project Nemmadi to provide egovernance services to rural citizens. The services of the Government of Karnataka like the caste, domicile, income certificates were earlier delivered to the Citizens at the Taluka Level. The Citizen had to give written applications along with supporting documents for the services required at the Taluk Office, which would then be manually processed and sent to the field officials for verification, the report was processed and the final manual certificate was issued by the Tahsildar at the taluk office. This process was cumbersome, expensive and was time consuming because the process made applicants travel to the taluk office many times to know the status of the applications and to take printed certificates. In order to promote online applications, e-Governance started providing the services through RDS launching Nemmadi Project through 800 tele callers spread all over state at Hobli locations. Under this project, the applications along with supporting documents were received at the telecentres, digitally entered into the system, processed in the taluka back office and finally the certificates were printed and issued at the telecentres.
Domicile/Residence Certificates Domicile certificates are the certificates issued by the respective State Governments, which proves the fact the person hosting the document has all rights to the state in that State or Union Territory. Domicile certificate is a document that allows you to enjoy all the utilities provided by the State Government, such as education, job, food, electricity, and water. It also applies to a woman who is living in a different state or union territory but gets married to a person who resides in the state where he has his domicile certificate. To obtain the domicile certificate anywhere in India, the person has to be a resident of the particular state for at least 6-10 years from the period of application however, the period of residency varies across states.
Places of applications and Issuing officials In Delhi, the applicant must be a resident of Delhi for the past three years. The domicile certificates can be applied by the applicants through online as well as offline mode. To apply for the domicile certificate offline, the applicant can approach the Sub Divisional Magistrate Page | 38
(SDM) of the concerned area or office of the Deputy Commissioner. The applicant can also download/print the application from the official web portal of Delhi Government https://edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in or directly fill the form in that portal. Sub Divisional Magistrate office and the Tehsildar at the Sub Division Office is the authorised signatory. SDM is for the areas whom to approach whereas Tehsildar are given power to approve the issuance. In West Bengal, domicile certificate can be received online visiting the e-District website of West Bengal Government. The District Collector from Revenue Department is the issuing official for domicile certificate. Any person who is a resident of West Bengal and Women not initially belonging to the state, but married to a person who is a permanent resident of the state are eligible to avail domicile certificate. However, persons applying for domicile certificate in West Bengal have to prove that they are permanent residents of the state since at least 5 years and own land in the state. Persons having permanent home in the State, but are presently residing outside the State for earning a living, will also be considered. Accessing the certificate does not cost any fee, is valid for a lifetime and hence doesn’t prompt the need for renewal. In Bihar, domicile certificate can be availed approaching respective revenue department authorities. The Circle Officer/ Village Administrative Officer (VAO)/ Revenue Inspector at the Revenue Department are the issuing authorities for domicile certificates in Bihar. Only the persons who are residents of Bihar for at least 3 years and won a house, property or land in Bihar can apply for Domicile certificate. In the case of minors, the certificate is issued based on their parents’ residence. The certificates also be applied through online visiting the online portal of Bihar Government https://serviceonline.bihar.gov.in/. In Telangana, The Mandal Revenue Officer at block level and Revenue Divisional Officer at the sub division level and Additional District Magistrate/ District Collector at the District level are the issuing authority of domicile certificates. To obtain nativity certificate from the Telangana Government, the applicants must be a Resident of Telangana and belongs to SC/ST/BC community. Hence, along with required documents as laid down in the process in all states, applicants in Telangana need to furnish caste/community certificates issued to any of the family members of blood relation. Proof of continuous residence for seven years or more is essential to obtain domicile certificate in Telangana. In Karnataka, domicile certificate issuing authorities are the Deputy Tehsildar and Tehsildar under Revenue department. In order to apply for Domicile or residence certificate in Karnataka, applicant has to go to the respective Taluk, Nadakacheri office in whose jurisdiction the candidate usually resides. Village Administrative Officer (VAO) and Revenue Inspector (RI) are the verification officers who send the report to Tehsildar of Revenue Department Office. The Tehsildar is the decision making official whether to issue the certificate to the applicants based on verification report on documents furnished by the applicants. To apply for a Karnataka domicile certificate, the applicant should be a permanent Page | 39
resident in the state for at least 6 years from a given year. If the applicant’s age is less than 18 years, the domicile of the father is essential.
SECTION II: DOCUMENTS FOR APPLICATION This section describes about the standard documents required to apply for different certificates across cities.
Birth Certificates 1) Application form (online) 1) Parents’ proof of residence before birth such as, Aadhar card/ Voter ID/ Electricity Bill 2) Child’s Aadhaar card if children do not stay with parents. 3) Bonafide Certificate/ Transfer or school leaving certificate/ School Marksheet of child (both for open and regular schooling) 4) Photograph of the child/parents In case of delayed registration, in Delhi, documents required are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5)
A request letter from the father/mother. Proof of address where the birth of a child takes place. Affidavit in the prescribed format that includes complete details of the child. Proof of birth date. Aadhar card.
Caste/Community Certificates In case of SC/ST certificate, documents to be furnished are: 1) Application form 2) Father’s, sister’s, brother’s or any blood relatives from Paternal side’s caste certificate (Mother’s certificates or certificates of maternal relatives not accepted). In case of separated families, only the paternal side documental proof would be accepted. 3) Father’s ID Proof (Aadhar card/ PAN card/ Voter ID card) 4) Child’s ID Proof (Aadhar card/ PAN card/ 10th Class Marksheet) 5) Residence proof of at least 5 years of residence 6) Copy of birth certificate 7) Copy of income certificate 8) Copy of Ration Card 9) Photograph
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In case SC/ST certificates are issued outside the State, then self-declaration has to be given along with all above mentioned documents to apply for fresh certificates in present state based on the castes mentioned in present state’s list. If SC/ST certificate of paternal side family member is not available for an applicant, a letter certified by two government employees (Gazetted Officer) that the applicant is a permanent residence of the State and known to them and that the applicant belongs to the caste SC/ST, along with the attested copies of the officers’ Identity Cards would be taken as valid documental proof. In case of OBC certificate, documents to be furnished are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6)
Application Form OBC certificate of father, brother, sister or paternal side blood relatives Self-declaration and self-attested copy of caste of the applicant Residence proof of at least 5 years of residence Copy of income certificate/ family income proof Photograph
Domicile Certificates 1) 2) 3) 4)
Residential proof of land or rented house (photocopy of land deed/rent receipt copy). Application form. Telephone Bill or Electricity Bill or House Tax (wherever applicable) Identity Proof such as, PAN card, Driving license, Voter card, Ration card or Passport (wherever applicable). If not available, then school mark sheet/ Transfer or school leaving Certificate/ Bonafide certificate 5) Birth certificate. 6) Passport size photograph.
Orphan/EWS Certificates Candidates who belong to the General category and do not belong to any other reserved category such as OBC, SC and ST, whose family annual income is less than 8 lacs per annum are eligible to apply for Income/ EWS certificate. The documents to furnish while applying include, 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7)
Aadhaar card. ID Proof (PAN card, Voter ID, etc.) Land/property documents. Affidavit/Self Declaration. Residential proof/Domicile Certificate Parent’s death certificate Passport-sized photograph. Page | 41
Children who are orphan and stay under care of Child Care Institutions can apply for orphan certificates in prescribed form (wherever applicable). In State of Telangana, a form called Orphanage Integrated Certificate Application Form is to be filled in to apply for Orphan Certificate for a child and submitted in citizen service centre- MeeSeva along with documents such as, Institution certificate of registration and passport size photograph of the child.
SECTION III: LAID DOWN PROCEDURE FOR APPLICATION This section describes about the government’s laid down procedure to be followed to apply for different certificates across states/cities.
III.A
Procedure to obtain different certificates
Birth Certificates, State wise: On time and delayed registrations Under section 8(1)(b) of the RBD Act, 1969, it is the primary duty of the Medical Officer Incharge of hospital, health centre maternity or nursing home or other like institutions to give or cause to be given either orally or in writing according to their best knowledge or belief and within such time as may be prescribed, information to the registrar of the several particulars required to be entered in the forms prescribed by the State Government under sub-section (1) of section 16. The officers in–charge of such institutions are statutorily adored to register events occurring in such institutions with the registrar of the local area where such institutions are located. The officer in– charge of such institutions has to supply information in Forms 1 for live – births, in Form 3 for still births and in Form 2 for deaths. In Karnataka, birth certificates can be accessed from Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) integrated Bangalore one centres, through online application or through Sakala scheme.1 The persons applying for a certificate should fill Form-1 for births and give it to the hospital, which in turn is sent to the Registrar’s office which issues the certificate after a few days. In case the hospital does not send letter to the Registrar’s office then the applicant needs to collect a letter from the hospital stating all the details of the child's birth. The Form No-1 needs to be filled and submitted to the registrar of applicant’s jurisdiction. The authorities will then do a proper verification with the hospital. Then, applicants need to visit the nearest District Statistical Officer and then check the details of the registration so that applicant can apply for the certificate. Through Bangalore one centres:
1
Karnataka Sakala Services Act was passed in 2011 to provide guarantee of services to citizens in the Indian state of Karnataka with a stipulated time limiting to citizen related services
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Citizen of Bangalore can avail Birth Certificates at Bangalore One Centres. BBMP has integrated the Issuance of Birth Certificates with Bangalore One. BBMP is providing respective authority digitally signed certificates to Bangalore One which can be issued over the counter. Citizen has to furnish Date of Event (Birth or Death) to search the Certificate from the BBMP Database. Applicant Details such as Name, Address, and Mobile Number will be captured to commit a transaction at Bangalore One Centre. The name of the child can be specified in the initial application itself, making the procedure easier. Alternatively, parents can add the name later at the BBMP office before they collect the actual certificate, or they can collect the certificate and then apply for name inclusion any time before the child turns 14, and an updated certificate can be obtained.
Through Sakala Scheme -
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Application form with details of date of birth, mother’s name, and hospital where child is born, should be submitted. Naming the hospital in the form is sufficient. No hospitalissued document is required, since the hospital would have already registered the birth. On payment of fees, receipt will be issued to the applicant. Verification process is to be carried out based on the details provided in the application. Certificates are printed and issued to the applicant within 3 days. In case of difficulties to get certificates under Sakala: If not received by 3 days, the applicant is entitled to approach the Municipal Commissioner (Competent Officer) as an first appeal. A decision by the Competent Officer has to be taken within a maximum of 15 working days from the date of appeal. If the decision of the Municipal Commissioner is not received within the stipulated time or is not acceptable or implemented, the applicant can make a second appeal and approach the Deputy Commissioner of the District (Appellate Authority). The decision of the Appellate Authority has to be taken within a maximum of 30 working days from the date of the second appeal.
Through online: -
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Need to first check out the registration website to see the child’s name has been registered and accordingly can apply for the certificate online in Nadakechari website filling up the details and uploading relevant documents and do the transactions online. In some government hospitals, the Resident Medical Officer (RMO) has the power of the sub-registrar and is authorised to certify births that occur in the hospital. In these cases, the certificate will be available from the hospital itself.
If the birth is not recorded, the applicant should get a Non-Availability Certificate from the BBMP and documents such as address proof are required in the absence of hospital records. The Non-Availability Certificate is an acknowledgement or endorsement from the authorities stating that the certificate is not available with them. Applicants have to fill a form and submit it to the BBMP authorities, who will then verify the data and issue the acknowledgement. Page | 43
In Bihar, Birth certificate can be applied online visiting the official website http://nagarseva.bihar.gov.in/ of Bihar government and clicking on the “Birth Certificate” option in the website to select Register Me. To register with portal, online form is to be filled up by the applicant post which the applicant would receive OTP in registered mobile number. The next step is to create a password for login to fill the online application form and attach the scanned copies of documental evidences before submitting the application. After submitting application online, the applicant will receive a service number as an acknowledgement to check application status online. The current status of the application can be viewed by entering the service application number and click on search button in the official website. In case of late registration, there is no special application to Registrar, instead the block office accept application along with an affidavit and proof of birth and parents Aadhar card. From block office the application goes to Registrar for verification before issuing the certificates. In Delhi, Birth certificate can be obtained online by visiting the official website https://www.ndmc.gov.in/Default.aspx of Delhi Government in case of hospital birth where the hospital authority registers the details online and certificate can be downloaded visiting the website. For late registration, Parents /Legal Guardians can only apply in case of minor where parents’ address proof and date of birth proof of the child has to be furnished. Selfattested copies of the original documents are to be uploaded along with beneficiary photograph in e-District application software (https://edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in/) in case of online application. Documental proofs can also be submitted by dialling 1095 in which agents visit the applicant’s home to pick up the documents and Fees of Rs.50. After online submission application message comes on the registered mobile number saying that “your application is successfully approved” and an Application Acknowledgement number comes which can be downloaded. Scanned copy of original affidavit to be uploaded while applying online and original affidavit to be submitted to the concerned SDM/ Tehsildar/ CSC by hand or sent by registered /speed post along with Page | 44
Application Acknowledgement number. Physical verification of some documents may be necessary at the counter even in case of online applications. Scanned copy of Self- Declaration has to be uploaded while applying online and hard copy of declaration has to be submitted to the concerned SDM/ Tehsildar/ CSC by hand or speed post/ registered post along with Application. The beneficiary himself/ herself /any of his family member should be present at the CSC for photograph or submit his/her photograph. Birth delay order depends on the rules by the State government and circulars for delayed registration of different state governments may vary. In Delhi, Government has made delayed registration easy making everything online, where, State Registrar can file the registration of birth by the using form VS-007 “Delayed Certificate of Birth”. In case of births in rural areas outside Delhi, the Village Head/ Sarpanch gives a letter or through ASHA workers, the birth report/ record and the documents go to Nagar Palika of that area where online system does not work or do not have facilities. In Telangana, Births are to be registered through the citizen service centre called MeeSeva. To register a birth duly filled application form along with all documents are to be submitted to concerned MeeSeva centre by either the hospitals and medical institutions where birth event occurred or by head of the family/relatives authorised by the parents. The MeeSeva centre operator apply for birth certificate online scanning the documents furnished by the applicants. Applicants need to pay fee at the time of online application at MeeSeva and the operator provides receipt for transaction and application ID. In case the applications are accepted, messages are received to the applicants’ registered mobile number. At the time of application, the applicants need to give details regarding certificate delivery modes. Applicants can get certificate directly from MeeSeva Centres or certificates can be send through courier to registered address from GHMC office. The status of birth certificate application can be checked by visiting UBDMIS (http://ubdmis.telangana.gov.in) website of Telangana, selecting MeeSeva application status option from the home page and entering MeeSeva application ID.
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In case of late registration, separate application form needs to be submitted addressing Revenue Divisional Officer for obtaining birth certificate in Telangana. The filled in form is to be submitted it to concerned MeeSeva centre with required fees associated with late registration, and documents such as, i) Non availability certificate issued by the Grama Panchayat or Municipal Commissioner, ii) ration card, iii) food security card, iv) SSC (10th class Board Examination) marks memo and iv) Self affidavit stating that the reason for late registration. After processing the applications, Registrar issues certificates. In Kolkata, in case of hospital birth that are not registered within 21 days and within one year falling in KMC jurisdiction, the details of the birth and parents address proof can be furnished through a form for delayed birth. If the delayed forms are submitted by parents or relatives/neighbours authorised by parents to the concerned borough Ex. Health Officer, certificates are issued free of cost. In case of birth in both private and government hospitals, name of child can be inserted at the time of taking birth certificates by the parents or a relative authorised by the parents in writing. However, in case of non-institutional births, even if the registration is by less than 1 year, first class magistrate’s order based on medical certificate mentioning date and place of birth and mentioning parents name along with photo ID proof of parents is to be submitted to Department of the Chief Municipal Health Officer, with Rs.100 as late fee. Very recently, the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) has launched an online system for the application of birth certificates at http://birthcertificate.kmcgov.in/ where applicant can apply online along with submitting scanned copies of documental proofs. In order to ease birth certification process for the residence of Kolkata, the new system also allows hospitals and nursing homes log in and enlist a child’s birth records along with parents’ details. However, applicants need to collect the certificate physically from Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC). No-entry Certificate are issued by the main Health Department of the Corporation for nonregistration of birth after 20 years on payment of a stipulated amount. For special occasions, Birth Certificate can be obtained from the Department of the Chief Municipal Health Officer by submitting the original directive of a First-Class Magistrate and other documents of proof. A sample Affidavit I, ...............aged about...............by faith..............., by occupation..............., presently residing at...............formerly reside at ............... do hereby solemnly affirm and declare as follows: That.................is my ...............……, who was born on...............…. at …. That I am the father and legal guardian of my said …...............…. That …...............…is mother of my said …................. recorded in the KMC Birth Register. Now I intend to insert the same with the KMC Birth Register. That we are Indian Nationals. The above statements are all true to my knowledge and belief. Deponent Identified by me
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A sample court order Upon enquiry as per provision of Birth Registration Act,1969 U/s.13(3). I am satisfied as to the correctness of the date of birth of ….................………residing at ….................……. Formerly reside at Enquiry reveals that ……….................was born on …….................….at …….................… and accordingly, I direct the registrar of Birth to record aforesaid date of birth of…….................… Judicial Magistrate
Caste/Community Certificates, State wise: In Delhi, in order to get SC/ST or OBC certificates, the applicants need to submit application in prescribed formats available separately for SC/ST categories and OBC category in the office of Sub Divisional Magistrate or District Collector in Delhi. The first step is to provide details in the application form such as, i) Personal information such as name, gender, DOB, marital status and religion; ii) parents details; iii) contact details; iv) Purpose of obtaining caste certificate and v) Caste /Tribe details of the applicants and submit to the Tehsildar of the SDM office. Supporting documental proofs required for SC/ST/OBC certificates, as mentioned above are to be enclosed along with the filled-in application form. After submission, the concerned Tehsildar will provide acknowledgement receipt with the unique application number which is the reference number to check status of application in future. After successful submission of the forms and supporting documents to the officials, local enquiry takes place from SDM office to check applicant’s residence or caste. In case of married women, field verifications take place at the places of residence before marriage as well as the locations of residence after marriage. Applicants need to revisit the SDM/DC office after 20 days and provide unique application number to collect physical copy of Caste Certificate. Caste certificates (SC/ ST/ OBC) can also be obtained online by visiting e-District application portal (https://edistrict. delhigovt.nic.in/) and opening the application forms such as, Page | 47
“issuance of Caste (SC/ST) Certificate” and “Issuance of Caste (OBC) certificate”. Scanned copies of documental proof, as mentioned in above section and photograph of the applicant has to be uploaded along with filled-in self-declaration form available along with application form. Physical verification of some documents may be necessary at the counter even in case of online applications. Hard copy of Self- Declaration, copy of filled-in application form, selfattested copies of documental proof have to be submitted to the concerned SDM/Tehsildar even in case of online application. The applicants also need to carry original documental proof physically to SDM office for verification by the officials.
In Kolkata, online application can be done to obtain Caste Certificates (SC/ST/OBC) by visiting official website of Government of West Bengal- (https://castcertificatewb.gov.in/jsp/ applicationmodule/applicationscst.jsp). Personal details are to be provided with selection of sub caste/tribe/community from the existing list based on caste and community the applicant belongs to, and details of blood relatives, migration details (if available) along with name and addresses of two referees are to be provided in the application form. Filledin application form along with scanned copies of relevant documental proof and passport size photograph to be uploaded in the website. After submitting the form online, the Page | 48
applicant needs to download a copy of the filled in form and acknowledgement receipt and then submit the filled in applications duly signed along with the documents to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation within 60 days from the date of filing online application. Within 60 days from the date of online applications (2nd and 4th Wednesday of a month), the applicant has to appear in DWO of Kolkata. On the date of appearance on concerned block/sub division office, the applicant needs to show original copies as well as self-attested copies of all the documents for verification by officials. If satisfied with the documentary evidence the concerned BCW Inspector / additional inspector/ Extension officer etc. forward recommendation online to BDO mentioning specifically how each criterion matches with the furnished documents. In cases the application forms are accompanied with valid documents and certificates of blood relatives, the applications are accepted and in cases there are doubts about genuineness of the certificates furnished as references, acceptance of applications stand based of field enquiries.
Satisfactory documents as per guidelines of West Bengal Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Identification) Act, 1994: -
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Proof of citizenship: Voter I card of self or parent(s); Authenticated Voter list of self or parent(s); PAN Card of self or parent(s); Birth Certificate from Competent Authority; Caste certificate of parent(s); Any Govt. Document proving citizenship Proof of permanent residence: Land deed or land tax receipt; Voter list proving residence since 1950; Birth Certificate proving residence since 1950; Ration Card proving residence since 1950; Caste certificate of parent(s); Any Govt. Document proving permanent residence since 1950. Proof of local residence: Land deed or land tax receipt; Voter I card of self or parent(s); Certificate from Competent Authority; Caste certificate of parent(s); Birth Certificate; Ration Card; Rent receipt; Pass Book of a Nationalised Bank, Gramin Bank, Post Office or Co-operative Bank; BPL Card; Any Govt. Document proving local residence.
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Proof of caste identity: Caste certificate of any paternal blood relation and proof of such relation; Copy of old land deed (prior to 1950) specifying community name in that document; Any Govt. Document proving caste identity. If proof of father’s caste is not available, then caste identification document of ancestor of paternal side along with proof of relation would suffice. Proof of personal identity: Admit Card; Voter I card; PAN Card; Birth Certificate from Competent Authority; Identity Card by employer/ educational Institution; Pass Book of Bank Account; BPL Card; Any Govt. Document proving identity.
In Bihar, Caste/community certificates can be applied online by visiting official home page of “Bihar Lok Sevaon ka Adhikar” and click the option of “Apply Online” with supported documents such as, complete address proof, passport size photographs, proof of caste from any local authority like panchayat or a copy of caste certificate of a blood relative, an affidavit for caste from nearest tehsil, age proof like school certificate or birth certificate, court stamp fees. In the next step, applicants need to agree on detailed instruction such as, i) have to visit in regional office of your area or in Bihar Bhawan counter to collect certificate, ii) website doesn’t have any option for sign so candidates have to submit their documents after sign on it and iii) applicants have to show and need to submit the copy of their voter ID card on counter while the time of collecting their certificates. Agreeing on the mentioned instruction the page will be directed to http://210.212.23.57/online/OnlineApply/verify.aspx where applicants need to select from where he/she wants to collect certificate after the registration process- from Block Office or from Bihar Bhawan. In the next step, the applicants need to fill up basic personal details in the application form. The star marked section is mandatory to fill in application form. In the registration form the applicants must have to write names in Hindi. The Hindi typing facility has given on the page where the applicants just have to write their names in English and it will convert in Hindi Spells. In the next step, the applicants have to fill the form with their complete details and information. The registration form is to be filled with all the correct information and in a proper way because incomplete form can be rejected by the Department. After submitting the registration form online, the applicants are able to Page | 50
check the status for their application through mobile SMS (type RTPS > type Applicants ID > sent it to 56677).
Offline application can be done by downloading form, fill-in and submitting the form along with supported documents as mentioned above to the Block office. Alternatively, through Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission (BMVM), which is an autonomous body under SC/ST Welfare Department, registered under Societies Registration Act 1860, applications can be submitted. BMVM has selected Vikas Mitra in all Panchayat / Ward Cluster of the State. They are from the majority Mahadalit Community of their own Panchayat / Ward Cluster. A large part of the Vikas Mitra’s responsibilities focus on in aiding potential beneficiaries with obtaining, filling and submitting application forms, photos for Dalit certificates and also verifying beneficiary identities. In Telangana, the application for caste/community certificates can be obtained either online or offline process. In offline process, the application form has to be collected from nearby Citizen Service Centre (MeeSeva) of the applicant’s place of stay. The application form needs to be filled-up with proper information such as, Name of the candidate (in Block Letters); Gender identity; Name of father; Name of mother; Present residential address; Permanent place of residence; Age details with Date of Birth and Place of Birth; Community for which the Certificate is claimed along with subgroup. The next step is to submit the filled in application along with supporting documents and prescribed fee to the Meesava centre nearby. The Meesava operator then would fill up the online application. In the next step, the applicant will receive an application acknowledgement number as well as the transaction number as a text message on the applicant’s registered mobile number. As the next step the documents will go to the Mandal Revenue Office where the Tehsildar would verify the details and issue Caste Certificates to the MeeSeva centre and applicant need to collect the certificate from MeeSeva. The application status can be checked by filling the application acknowledgement number and transaction ID in the official portal of MeeSeva. Page | 51
In Karnataka, caste/ community certificates (SC/ST/OBC) can be applied online using the link www.nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in of Nadakechari portal and clicking Apply Online option in the portal. The Log-in page will appear and the applicants need to enter the registered Mobile number and click on ‘Proceed’ button to enter Nadakechari Home Page. In the next step, the applicants need to select New Request option in the home page click on the Caste Certificate tab. All information has to be entered in the application form and upload scanned copies of documental proof. In the next step on clicking the Save button, an acknowledgement number will be displayed in the screen and will be sent to the applicant’s registered mobile number. The next step is to pay the application fee (Rs.15 per certificate) online by selecting the mode of payment and clicking the make payment option after filling the card details. The final certificate will be provided on Nadakacheri after successful payment. Migration of a Reserved Category from One State to Another State According to the officials interacted for the study in West Bengal, a person migrated from other State/Union Territory to the State of West Bengal after publication of the Presidential Orders on Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes can also apply for Caste Certificate, though he is not entitled to benefits given to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes by the State of West Bengal. As written in the guideline- “A person of SC/ST community of other states migrated to West Bengal after 1950, would not be entitled to the benefits/ reservations provided by the state government to the person belonging to SC, ST, though the caste/tribe he or she belongs to is listed as SC or ST in West Bengal”. If the community is not scheduled in the migrated state, and the person belonging to SC/ST migrates from other States/UTs to Kolkata, they will have to collect a special form of caste certificates from DWO in Kolkata (offline mode form) and submit to the DWO along with applicant’s Paternal certificate by the state (from where the applicant migrated) authority and residence proof of present address in migrated state (e.g., West Bengal). The certificate will be issued irrespective of whether the Caste/Tribe in question is scheduled or not in West Bengal. But Page | 52
the certificate issuing authority may decide to conduct detailed enquiry in the applicant’s state of origin. According to the officials in Delhi, Caste certificate for migrants is possible only if a paternal relative’s caste certificate is available OR if they can prove that they have been living in Delhi since before 1951 and have been a part of that caste since. As per the existing list of castes in Karnataka, certificates are provided to migrants against proper documental evidence. If the caste name not matching as per the existing list, they need to produce relevant documentary evidence of his/her places of origin and documents of present address proof in migrated states. However, the applicants cannot claim benefits given to the listed scheduled castes and scheduled tribes of the state of Karnataka.
Domicile Certificates, State wise: In Delhi, domicile certificates can be obtained in both offline and online mode. To apply physically, the applicants need to approach the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the concerned area or office of the Deputy Commissioner. The application form can also be downloaded/printed from the official website and the filled in form along with supporting documents can be handed over to the SDM. To go with online mode, the applicants can apply for a domicile certificate by visiting official web portal of Delhi Government https://edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in/ and clicking on the Apply For Certificates Online under the service tab on home page. In the next step, the applicants need to register themselves or in case already registered, they need to log in with your User ID and Password. Then the applicants need to click on the “Apply for services” option under the “Apply Online” menu. On selecting the “Apply” button on “Issuance of Domicile Certificate” option the application form page will be opened. All information and necessary details in the application form have to be filled up and scanned copies of supporting documents are to be uploaded. On clicking the “submit” button, an acknowledgement number will be displayed in the screen which can be printed for future reference. The e-portal also facilitates its users to verify the status of the application. On the Page | 53
home page, the applicants need to click on “Track your Application link” and enter your application number and applicant’s name to check the status of your application. In West Bengal, domicile certificates can be obtained in both offline and online mode. The applicants can collect application form either from online or from the offices, such as, Tehsil office, sub-divisional office, Revenue Department Office, Office of District Collector. The duly filled-in application form has to be submitted to the Sub Divisional Officer along with two passport size photographs and required documents. Going through online procedure, the applicants need to register into e-District website of West Bengal Government (https://edistrict.wb.gov.in/PACE/login.do) by clicking “New Registration” and providing relevant credentials required for login. The next step is to click on the Local Residence (Domestic Certificate) option in the home page.
Relevant instructions such as, eligibility criteria, documents required will be displayed and the applicants need to select “Apply” button. In the next step the application form for domicile certificate will appear on the screen and applicants need to fill required details. Required supporting documents are to be attached in this step and the applicants need to click on the “Save & Next” button to submit the application. Once the application is submitted successfully, the applicant receives an acknowledgement number to view the status of the application. The concerned authority will issue the domicile certificate within 7 working days from the date of application. To down the Domicile Certificate, the applicants need to revisit the e-district website of WB and click on the “Approved Applications” on the home page, select the service name from the list of approved applications, click on “Local Residence (Domicile Certificate)” by providing acknowledgement number. The last step is to download the certificate. If the applicant does not receive the domicile certificate, then the applicant must visit the respective Tehsil office or Revenue Department office and apply it in person. Page | 54
In Bihar, domicile certificate can be obtained in online mode by visiting official web portal of Bihar Government: https://serviceonline.bihar.gov.in and clicking in “Apply Online” option on the home page. In this step the applicants need to note down the important instructions before proceeding such as; i) they have to visit in regional office of your area or in Bihar Bhawan counter to collect certificate ii) website doesn’t have any option for sign so candidates have to submit their documents after sign on it and iii) applicants have to show any of the photo ID card on counter while the time of collecting their certificates. In the next step the applicants need to choose the place where they would like to get the certificate, enter the name (Hindi and English both) and select the certificate and then enter the mobile number. After clicking on the “Next” button, the applicants will be getting a verification code to the mobile. Enter the verification code, and then the applicant will be redirected to the page where they need to fill all the mandatory details and hit submit at the bottom of the page to complete applying. After filling the application form, the applicant will receive the application ID as an acknowledgment for the future reference. This application will be processed and the certificate will be uploaded for applicant to download. Applicant can use the status option in the online portal below the apply option and can download if it is ready. In Telangana, to apply for domicile certificate, the applicant needs to visit the official website of the Telangana Government https://www.telangana.gov.in/services/meeseva . Under MeeSeva service, click on the Revenue and select Residence General Application Form which can be downloaded by the applicants: (http://tg.meeseva.gov.in/DeptPortal/Application%20Forms/REVENUE/Residence%20Gener al%20Application%20Form.pdf) .
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In the next step, the application form has to be filled up with appropriate details such as, Name and address, Family details, Aadhar card number, Contact number and Residence details. Along with the duly filled-in application form, relevant documental proofs are to be attached and the applicants need to submit them to the nearest MeeSeva centre. Upon submission, an applicant will receive a unique transaction number to the registered mobile number informing the details about the applicant’s domicile certificate on successful registration. The applicant needs make a note on transaction Id to check the status of the application through online. To check the status of the domicile certificate application form proceeds, the applicants can visit the MeeSeva Portal (https://ts.meeseva.telangana.gov.in/meeseva/home.htm), enter Transaction ID or application number and then click on “Go”. Once the status of the application is approved, the applicant will receive the residence certificate within seven days from the date of application. In Karnataka, to apply for domicile certificate in person, the applicants have to go to the respective Taluk, Nadakacheri office in whose jurisdiction the candidate usually resides and submit a written application form along with copies of required documents to the authority. The authorities make entry of all information and provide the applicants record number of references. Applications are verified by the Village Administrative Officer (VAO) and Revenue Inspector (RI) who check all details and submit report to the Tehsildar who then issue the certificates to the applicants. Sample Affidavit for Local Certificate for those born in Karnataka I, Mr./Mrs.____________________________________________ aged_________ residing at ___________________________ _____________________________ do hereby state and declare under solemn affirmation as under:
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I say that my Daughter/Son, Mr./Ms.___________________________________________________ is born on __________________ in [City]. He is born, brought up & has taken entire education in [City] and is residing in [State] State with family members since birth. I have made an application for issue of Local Certificate to my Daughter/Son, Mr./Ms._________________________ __________________________and with the same, I have attached the attested Xerox copies of following Documents which are true and genuine. If any document is found false or incorrect, I am liable for legal action under section 199, 200(a) and 193(c) of IPC. I am producing following documents: 1. _____________________________________2. _________________________________3. _______________________________________4. __________________________________ I am making this affidavit to produce before the authorities of Collector of [City] to issue Local Certificate to my Daughter/Son, Mr./Ms.__________________________________________________ on the strength of this affidavit. What is stated hereinabove is true and correct to the best of my knowledge and belief Solemnly affirmed at [City]. On this date
In case of online application, the applicants need to visit the Nadakechari website (https://nadakacheri.karnataka.gov.in/ajsk) and select “Apply Online” option under Online Application option from the home page. In the new page the applicants need to enter their mobile numbers and hit “Proceed” to reach the next page for detailed instruction. Then the applicants need to select NEW REQUEST and choose “Residence/ Domicile Certificates” option. In the next step, the applicants need to select Language and “Domicile Certificate” to reach next page. The resulting page will prompt to enter /select appropriate details. After filling the details, the applicants need to hit “Search” to get new page with details. If the details are correct, applicants need to select appropriate option to get the next window to upload required documents and hit make payment tab to reach the next page. In the next page, payment gateway options (Credit / Debit / Net Banking) are displayed to complete the payment. After the payment, an acknowledgement for transaction comes in the mobile number. The acknowledgement number is to be kept by the applicant for future reference. Applicants will get the certificate with 7 days from submitting the applications after due verification from the issuing authority.
III.B
Applicable Fees to Obtain Certificates
Birth Certificate
- Karnataka: Registration of births done within 21 days of the event is free of cost. Application through BBMP integrated Bangalore One centre, BBMP demands Rs. 50/- for First Copy of Certificate and Rs. 10/- for consecutive copy. Bangalore- One demands user charges of 8/- for first copy and Rs. 2/- for consecutive copy. In case of online application, from 21 to 30 days after the event, certificates will be provided after collecting a fine of Page | 57
Rs 25. After 30 days and within a year, only the Joint Director of Statistics can provide the certificate against the penalty of Rs 50, along with an affidavit. Under Sakala Scheme, while the first copy of certificate costs Rs. 50, every additional copy costs Rs. 10 each. In case of registration after one year, applications can be submitted to the Registrar along with court order of the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JFMC) paying Rs.10 for the form and Rs.5 for certificate copy. -
Bihar: Registration of births done within 21 days of the event is free of cost. In case of online application from 21 to 30 days after the event, Bihar government change Rs.2 as late fee and in case of registration after 30 days and within one year, a late fee of Rs. 5 is charged by the Government of Bihar.
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Delhi: Within 21 days of the occurrence of Birth- no fees for registration of Birth and the first free copy is provided by the Hospital where the birth event occurred. After 21 days to 30 days of the occurrence of Birth- Rs. 7/- charged as a late fee. After 30 days to within 1 year of the occurrence of Birth - Rs. 10/- charged as a late fee. After one year of the occurrence of Birth, a late fee of Rs. 15/- charged along with order from SDM. To register name in Birth Certificate, Rs. 10/- charged and for Birth Certificate, Rs. 20/- will be charged for one copy as a fee. To Search any old record, Rs. 7/- is charged as a fee in Delhi
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Telangana: For Birth Certificate application in Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC): Rs.45 charged per transaction towards service and statutory fees and Rs.25 for additional copy. For Birth Certificate application in in Commissioner & Director of Municipal Administration Government of Telangana (C&DMA): For Municipality, Rs.50 charged for first 4 copies and additional Rs.100 charged from 5th copy onwards. In the Panchayat level, Rs. 35 charged at Panchayat level for the first copy and Rs.10 for additional copy. For Late registration of birth: Rs. 35 charged per transaction and Rs. 5 for every additional year of late Registration. Birth Certificate Corrections: Rs. 90 charged per transaction as service and statutory fees and Rs. 25 for every additional copy
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West Bengal: The first copy of Birth Certificate registered within a period of one Year from the date of birth are provided free of cost and additional copy is charged Rs. 100 per copy. If an event of birth is found not registered, a Non-availability certificate can be obtained from KMC Main Office, Health Department, Kolkata, on production of supporting documents like Voter ID card, Educational Record, Ration Card etc against fee of Rs. 500 per registration.
Caste/Community Certificate In Telangana, the fee for availing caste certificate service is Rs. 35 / which must be paid at the concerned nearby Meeseva Centre at the time of applying for the certificate. In Karnataka,
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the fees for issuing the Caste Certificate through Nadakacheri is Rs. 15 per certificate. In West Bengal, Bihar and Delhi, no fees are charged for online application for caste certificates.
Domicile Certificate The application fees charged for a domicile certificate varies from state to state. In Karnataka, applying for domicile certificate costs a onetime fee of Rs. 45 for the application form, as the certificate valid for a lifetime and hence doesn't prompt the need for renewal. In Telangana, the applicant has to possess a fee of Rs. 10/- for an application form. The applicant has to possess a fee of Rs. 35/- for service charge and issuance of domicile certificate. However, in West Bengal, the applicants can apply for domicile certificate without remitting any fee for it, whereas in Delhi and Bihar, application fees are not specified by the authority.
III.C
Scrutiny and verification processes
In case of Birth registration, if the hospitals and medical institutions submit birth records or parents submit applications to the Registrar within stipulated time as per the act, no verification is required. Verification happens only when there is a problem such as duplicity of documental proof. In case of anomaly, FIR registered by the issuing authorities. In case of false registration (such as different state birth) which comes to notice of concerned issuing authorities, from any source, verification happens and Registrars have the power to cancel already issued Birth Certificates at any time. In case of Caste/Domicile certificates, even after the online applications with scanned copies of documental proof, applicants need to appear before the concerned block/sub division office to show original copies as well as self-attested copies of all the documents for verification by officials. If satisfied with the documentary evidences by applicants, the concerned Inspector/ additional inspector/ Extension officer forward recommendation online to the sub divisional office mentioning specifically how each criteria have been matched with the furnished documents. In cases there are doubts about genuineness of the certificates furnished as reference, acceptance of applications would be based of field enquiries.
III.D
Time frame for disposal
Birth Certificates: In case of online application,
“There are a lot of manipulation regarding voter ID card or Aadhaar card to get caste certificates. In case of any anomalies seen in the applications, physical verifications/hearing of local authorities are done.”- DWO, Kolkata
messages about the applications whether approved or rejected, will come to the registered mobile numbers of the applicants and disposal takes up to 4 weeks of time after submission of application. In case of offline applications, the Municipal Authority verifies the details and if everything is in place, the birth certificate is issued and delivered to the applicant’s address within 7-15 days in most of the states. Page | 59
Caste Certificates: Originally, an application for caste certificate is to be disposed off within eight weeks from the date of its submission. In most of the study states, caste certificates have been received by the applicants within 15–20 days from the date of applications, if documents furnished along with applications are satisfactory. In cases where documents are not satisfactory or the issuing authorities find disputes in documental proof furnished by applicants, field inquiry conducted by officials. Field inquiries and physical verification process are carried out by officials to check on the authenticity of documentations. Delays happen if there are no paternal certificates and ancestors staying in interior places delay in furnishing their own documents etc.
Domicile/Residence/Income certificates: The validity period of this certificate has been enhanced to life long. The prescribed time limit to obtain a domicile certificate is 21 days. In West Bengal, processing time to issue the Domicile / Resident certificate is 7 days in case of online applications. For physical applications to Tehsil office/ sub-divisional office/revenue department office or office of district collector, the domicile certificate can be received by post after 15 to 20 days, if documental proofs such as residential proof, birth proof, identity proof are satisfactory to the issuing authority. It takes about 21 days in Delhi, 30 days in Karnataka and 7-10 days in Bihar from the date of application to issue domicile certificates by concerned authorities. Best practice As per the Karnataka Sakala Service Act, 2011 and (Amendment) Act, 2014, if applicants apply for caste certificates/ domicile/ residence certificates/income certificates etc and do not receive the certificates since a long time, they can approach the Competent Officer (an officer who shall be empowered to impose cost on the public servant defaulting or delaying the delivery of service). If the issues are not resolved, they can meet the Appellate Authority- an officer appointed by the Government invested with the power to hear appeal against the orders passed by any competent officer under this Act. If the applicants do not get response even after the approaching Appellate Authority, they can approach Sakala. In case of difficulties to get certificates under Sakala: If not received by 3 days, the applicant is entitled to approach the Municipal Commissioner (Competent Officer) as a first appeal. A decision by the Competent Officer has to be taken within a maximum of 15 working days from the date of appeal. If the decision of the Municipal Commissioner is not received within the stipulated time or is not acceptable or implemented, the applicant can make a second appeal and approach the Deputy Commissioner of the District (Appellate Authority). The decision of the Appellate Authority has to be taken within a maximum of 30 working days from the date of the second appeal.
III.E
Procedure for Error corrections or cancellation of issued certificates
Errors in Birth Certificates occur due to negligence of hospital authorities or concerned issuing officials in case of offline applications, causing the applicants to make repeated visits to get them corrected. According to the Registration of Birth and Deaths Act 1969, changes can be made in the certificate if the Registrar is satisfied with the documents furnished. In case of Page | 60
minor corrections required in already issued Birth Certificates, such as, change in address or spelling mistake in father/ mother name, the corrections are done by the Registrar on submitting address proof, ID proof etc. However, no change is accepted in Date of Birth or Child Name. In case of major corrections, an affidavit and other documents should be presented to the Registrar and the changes can be made free of cost. Documents to furnish for corrections in Birth Certificates are, -
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Declaration by either father or mother and corrected by TWO GAZETTED OFFICIALS (officials name and seal) Notary Affidavit in stamp paper of Rs.10 (non-judicial stamp paper) The Original Birth / Death Certificates already taken are to be returned Documentary Evidences like Educational Certificates, Election ID Card, Ration Card, driving Licenses, Marriage Certificates, LIC policy (if any) or caste certificate In case of hospital birth, Consent Letter from the concerned Hospital regarding the correction. In case of birth anywhere else, consent from a medical officer/ health officer in district medical council/ CHC etc. In case of rural, medical officer in PHC Any other certificate of the child
However, this interpretation is subjective; the Registrar can refuse to make changes without citing any specific reasons and there are instances of bribing to get the data corrected in certificates. In case of corrections required, the following documents are to be submitted by the applicants. For any change/ correction in caste/domicile certificates, a form for correction will be available at Tehsildar’s office in case of offline applications. However, in case of online applications, there should not be mistakes in issued certificates as applicants fill up the online forms by themselves. Despite, for minor corrections, the authority who has issued the certificate can do the rectification after receiving of valid documents from the applicants. No separate forms available for rejected applications and no physical verifications required. Issued certificates might get cancelled by the issuing “People think only they are getting authorities in case of disputes noticed in documental harassed and no one see the proof during field verifications. There are incidences harassment issuing officials face of furnishing fake documentations to get benefit because of the fake documents from state governments. For example, in order to get furnished by few people to get the categorical concession in entrance examinations or in certificates.”- Revenue Department Official, Kolkata government jobs in a particular state, people from other states seek caste/domicile/residence certificate furnishing fake address proof or community certificate of blood relatives. These anomalies are noticed during field inquiry by concerned issuing authorities. Similar disputes are also noticed by government employment authorities during background check of the candidates about caste certificates being issued to those job aspirants. As a result, many such applications got rejected.
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SECTION IV: ORPHAN CERTIFICATES: SPECIAL MEASURES BY FEW STATES Orphan and destitute children who have not been or could not be adopted by any foster parents and whose castes have not been identified yet are the most vulnerable section of the society, because they have to pass through many obstacles and miseries once they out of care of CCIs at the age of 18. This is because they neither have any parental documents nor proof of birth records to access legal identity documents required for accessing entitlements. Going by the children’s statistics of the country which said to be 472 million and by this latest survey, the orphan population in India would be around 23.6 million and around 14.16 million may not be living with their biological parents. Considering these children’s vulnerability status, few positive measures also has been taken in the country. For example, by the National Commission for Backward Classes recommended the Central Government that orphans living in orphanages and transgender community should be included in the central list of OBCs for all states and Union Territories so that they can enjoy entitlement like reservation. Honourable Supreme Court of India issued notice to the centre and states in 2018, on a PIL seeking a direction to the Central Government to give orphans the same benefits enjoyed by children of minority communities and BPL categories and asked the Centre to reply to the PIL that has also sought provision of other benefits to orphans like reservation in educational institutions and government jobs for orphans on a par with children belonging to the SC/ST and OBC categories. Few states have taken positive measures in this direction states like Telengana who have included the orphans and destitute children in the list of Backward Class-A and Tamilnadu, and Rajasthan who have also included the Orphans as backward class in their state backward class list and given equal rights and opportunities meant for the said groups in their respective states. The government of Maharashtra also has allotted one percent reservation for the orphans in the educational institutions and government jobs. In Telangana, state government has declared Orphans and destitute children as socially and educationally backward class and included them in Sl. No.55 of BC-A Group. A memo videNo.1340/BCW/OP/2015 dated Jan.11, 2016 was issued by the Backward classes Welfare department.2 The GO says that “The orphans and destitute children who have lost their parents before reaching the age of ten and are destitute; and who have nobody else to take care of them either by law or custom; and also who are admitted into any of the schools or orphanages run by the Government or recognised by the Government.” The in-charges of the orphanages, destitute homes, children’s homes, etc. can issue a certificate addressed to the Tahsildar concerned stating the applicant as an orphan or destitute child, as the case may be, at the custody of the orphanage, etc. from this date to this date and the details nature of education provided to the children, etc. The orphanage needs to give the details of the orphan children available with them as per the orphanage
2
https://maahyderabad.in/ts-extends-reservations-to-orphans-under-bc-a-category/
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records. This certificate will be handed over to the orphans and destitute children who want a certificate from the Government. With this certificate, the orphan or the destitute child, as the case may be, shall visit the concerned Tahsildar and he she shall submit an application stating his/ her name and that he /she is an orphan duly enclosing the certificate issued by the approved orphanage authorities in original. This application of the orphan, destitute child along with the certificate issued by the orphanage authorities which is received in Taluk office shall be acknowledged by the Tahsildar and an acknowledgement will be given in token of receipt of application. In Karnataka, the District Child Protection Unit is one of the authorities who provide Orphan certificate against a requirement of mandatory documents which includes Death Certificate of the parents. The way to obtain Death Certificate is to trace back the native of the child from the CWC declaration report, FIR, any other document or depending upon the wordings of the child. Further, there will be investigation about the parents of the child from the Aaganwadi, Gram Panchayat or Village Accountant of the native place of the child. If according to the statement of the people of native place it concludes that parents are no more, then child can obtain the Death Certificate of the parents from the respective authorized department. Producing the death certificate along with other documents as mentioned in previous section of this chapter would help in getting orphan certificate. In case death certificate of parents are unavailable, caste certificate of any sibling or any blood relative can be produced. ***
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Chapter 5: Successes and Challenges: Rainbow’s experience Out of the randomly selected YAs across sample cities, some YAs whoever have institutional births possessed Birth Certificate from their places of origin before coming to the CCIs whereas some eligible YAs who could produce documents of blood relatives received Caste certificates. For some of the YAs in Kolkata, parents were helped by the team members of Loreto Rainbow Homes to access their own documents which helped in accessing few caste and domicile certificates of children under Loreto Rainbow Homes. Staff members accompanied girls to DWO, Kolkata Municipal Corporation for the required procedure and met councillors in certain occasions to get letters. In Bangalore, Hyderabad and Delhi, very few of the selected YAs received Income certificate, Caste certificate, Residence/ Domicile certificate either through parents or by the efforts of team members in Rainbow Homes. Few of the YAs in Hyderabad Rainbow Homes who did not have documental proof to access caste certificate were able to access orphan certificates. Common challenges observed in all sample cities were as under: o There is no single window system Perceptions of YAs on importance of identity across sample cities to access forms documents “Even for opening a bank account, Aadhaar card is for different identity documents. a must. We need birth and caste certificates at the Hence waiting in the long queue to time of joining School/College or to apply for some apply for different legal identity Government job/Entrance test or to apply for Govt. documents and repeated time visits to schemes/benefits.” – YAs in Bangalore “To avail loan for education, we must need Domicile the designated officials to get status of certificate but without Aadhaar, we cannot even certificates in cases of were common apply for that!!”- YAs in Delhi across cities in case of offline “Age proof is a mandatory document for college applications. On the contrary, in cases admission as well as a basic document to apply for of applications through online mode, all relevant legal identity such as caste certificate, nativity certificate”- YAs in Kolkata which were mainly through staff of “We are not able to apply for pre-matric or postRainbow Homes did not yield positive matric scholarships for not having caste certificates. result in most of the cases due to lack Few Schools do not allow YAs to sit in board of proper documental proof of examinations without Aadhaar card and Birth certificate even though date of births is written in children. school records.”- YAs in Hyderabad o Single parents especially in interior villages are not at all aware of importance of entitlement documents and do not know their own caste or hide their castes after migrating to the cities. Also due to illiteracy as well as lack of documental proof, they get exploited by the intermediary agents who demand arbitrary fees to access legal identity documents for their children. Page | 64
o Officials in citizen service centers in Hyderabad, Bangalore denied to accept application forms in certain cases on the ground that if people apply without proper documentation, the applications get rejected and the service center officials face consequence and get notices from upper authorities. o Government officials in sample cities found to be skeptical about functioning of CCIs as they are not run by the government. On many occasion letters from CWC were not accepted by the revenue officials for issuance of caste certificate to children from NGOrun CCIs. o Incidences of exploitation of parents by intermediary agents taking advantage of their illiteracy and lack of awareness about processes to apply for legal identity documents were common across sample cities. Many of parents interacted during the study mentioned about paying Rs.500 to Rs.4000 to different agents to access legal identity documents for their children.
Voices of the parents i. Challenge in accessing Aadhaar card- Even after submitting applications and providing documents such as Birth certificate, the mother of one of the girls in Loreto Rainbow Homes complaint that her names were not listed in the nearby Aadhaar enrolment center by the Government. The parent had to re-apply with fresh form, re-submitting documents and fees of Rs.150 per child. Even after that and repeated follow up with the official in-charge at the enrolment center, the mother and the girl did not receive the Aadhaar card. ii. Difficult to get documents of blood relatives from the girls’ places of origin- YAs in Rainbow homes were asked to approach their relatives to get relevant documents so that those can be helpful to apply for their caste certificates. However, parents, especially single parent complaint of not getting help from the biological father of the girl or paternal relatives to get copies of caste certificate. iii. Exploitation by intermediary agents due to illiteracy and non-availability of documents: Few parents complaint of getting offer from agents asking for Rs.1000 per child to make a fake medical certificate which can be helpful to get original birth certificates. Few parents also spoke about paying Rs.1000 per child to these agents to get birth or caste certificates on producing only Aadhaar cards. The parent of one YA in Bangalore was, similarly exploited by an agent and end up paying Rs.4000 to get the child’s Aadhaar card and Bank account. Another parent mentioned about paying Rs.2000 to access Aadhaar cards and Caste Certificates of two children. Most of parents informed that initially they gave up the thought of making certificates because of the repeated visits to the issuing authorities and ignorance from the officials. At the time admission to college, they had to rely on the agent against payment to get the certificates in less time. iv. Non-cooperation of Gram Panchayat members: Few parents complaint about noncooperation of gram panchayat members in terms of providing declaration letter mentioning caste of applicants which is considered as important documental proof to apply for ST certificate. The GP Pradhan asked the parents to bring Aadhaar cards at the time they would inform those parents, but no information came from the GP even after 6 months. Hence, these parents could not apply for their caste certificates. According to a parent, “Gram Panchayat Pradhan only request for vote and promise that after vote they would be given certificates…and forget about every promise after coming into power.” Page | 65
v. Landlord denied to give electricity bill as document proof: Few of the parents of young adults in Delhi faced problem in accessing ration cards and domicile certificates for no documental proof of residence. Despite staying in one address for several years, landlords denied to provide electricity bill and signature to apply for the mentioned identity documents.
vi. Cannot have Ration card for being homeless: Homeless parents of children in Delhi pointed out the difficulty in getting Ration card due to complex application procedure and insistence on furnishing documents that homeless people lack. The government has mandate that only the people who has Aadhaar card and residence proof can apply for ration card and hence, these parents are excluded from the ambit of the PDS.
CITY WISE CASE STUDY: SUCCESSES AND CHALLENGES Kolkata
Successes a) Few single parents of the sample Young Adults in Kolkata accessed caste certificates for them since their fathers or any blood relatives had caste certificates and producing them in the place of origin helped them getting the certificates. Apart from father’s/relative’s caste certificates, family’s income certificate, proof of a referee (neighbor of the locality), school bonafide letter were used as documental proof to get caste certificates. b) As a special drive by Department of Personnel and Trainings, West Bengal in 2016, the department instructed state governments to issue caste and domicile certificates to school children (SC/ST students) and only domicile certificates to all students of the schools in either Class V or Class VIII and that it will be the responsibility of the headmaster or the principal to collect documents filled up by applicants and submit them to the state authority concerned. The objective of such drive by the Government was to provide a Single Window system and aimed at sparing school students the trouble of filing lastminute applications for documents that could ensure reservation benefits while applying for admission to higher education institutions.
Challenges a) Few parents in Kolkata complaint that even after producing relevant documental proof, the certificates were not issued. After 2-3 months when they did not get any positive result, Rs.1000 were given as bribe to the agent to access the caste certificates b) Parents and staff of Rainbow Homes face challenges in getting Aadhaar card for children in Kolkata, if the children do not have relevant document such as parental proof and Page | 66
children’s birth certificates. In West Bengal, school’s bonafide or letter from schools are not enough to get new Aadhaar card. Apart from Bonafide from school, either Birth certificate or a letter from GP or local councilor is required to apply for Aadhar card. Very few of children could access Aadhaar from GPO, Kolkata producing school certificate. Birth certificate or admit card of 10th board examination, paying Rs.50 per application. c) Regarding Caste Certificates, both parents of “Government has not opened any charity the children and staff at Loreto Rainbow to provide everything free without Homes faced challenges since most of the documents. Paternal side blood relations children lack paternal or blood relatives’ and Referees names (who knows the caste certificates to furnish as documental children but not related; for example, the staff from CCIs for institutional children) to proof. According to the issuing officials be mentioned in the form. Without caste interviewed for this study, there is no certificate from paternal side, we cannot alternative to issue Caste certificates if the issue certificates to anyone...” -Caste child is from single mother and biological certificate issuing authority in Kolkata father is not in contact or do not have any paternal document. This is despite the guideline which states, “applicant has the right to apply even without any documentary proof in support of his claim and no application shall be rejected merely on the ground of non-availability of documentary evidences about caste identity, residence or citizenship…” and that “no application shall be rejected merely on the ground of non-availability of documentary evidences about caste identity, residence or citizenship. In such cases, certificates from the Pradhan of local Gram Panchayat, Chairman of the local Municipality or the local Councilor of the Municipal Corporation along with findings of the enquiry shall be considered to be sufficient.” d) Local Councilors in West Bengal has “Going by the Govt laid down process does not much power in providing letters work for children with no documental proof. which are considered as one of the However, letters from local councillors could be valid documents by DWO or Revenue received by few girls through rapport building by Department to issue caste/domicile their parents in their places of stay. Generally, certificates can be accessed through known certificates. However, politics play sources. The councillors try to show their power important role in getting supports and mention that if the parents of the applicants from local councilor and political are in voter list, then they will be provided the leaders, as they see political interests letters…” -Staff at one of Loreto Rainbow Homes, over humanitarian activities. The staff Kolkata in all the homes in Kolkata shared that no specific application forms are received from Revenue department to access Income and Domicile certificate. Local councilors have the forms for Residential and Income certificates where the councilor write the name of the applicants and give the letters which are considered as valid income/residential proof for the applicants. Some of the councilors are not cooperative and do not issue letter mentioning that the applicants are the residence of the councilor’s jurisdiction, which is major obstacle in getting residence and income certificates in west Bengal. Some of the Loreto Homes faced problem of local Page | 67
councilors denying to support since some of them had personal problems with Loreto school management. One of the sample YAs in Kolkata received birth certificates through a Local Councilor, even though she did not have any documental proof, as the Councilor found to be a relative of the girl. e) Despite the Guidelines of West Bengal to BC Welfare Department mentions that “special camps are to be held at regular intervals” and that “Such camps are to be organised in all the High and Higher Secondary Schools, as most of the applicants for caste certificates are School or College students…”, the special camps are not organized at school level on regular interval. Officials mentioned that in case, the school takes initiative to call the officials, they visit the schools to collect documents and provide certificates to all children on the same day. f) Staff mentioned about non-cooperation from the officials in accessing Birth Certificates for children with no documentary evidence. Some of the staff went to Officials at Kolkata Municipal Corporation mentioned that doctors from Govt medical college need to be approached to get a medical certificate to furnish as birth proof of the children. However, practically, no doctor would agree to provide medical certificate for children whose birth has not taken place under his/her supervision. Moreover, since all children in Loreto Rainbow Homes were not enrolled through CWC recommendation, for Loreto not having JJ license at the time of admission of few girls, CWC did not agree to provide any letter which would be helpful to get affidavit and court order from first class magistrate. According to one of the staff members, “Even if the departments are working for children, none of the officials have been found to be cooperative and empathetic for children of our type who really lacks documentary proof”.
Hyderabad
Successes a) One of the young adults in Hyderabad applied for Caste Certificate when she was in 10 th standard with the help of Rainbow Home Team member. She was an orphan and faced problem in accessing caste certificate since her initial was wrongly written in school record. The officials were not accepting documental proof with different initial name of family. She had to correct her name in school record and went to Mandal office in Hyderabad with the Bonafied certificate from school mentioning caste along with Aadhar card, recommendation letter from Rainbow Homes and death certificate of her Parents. The girl received Caste certificate with a month with all above documental proof. b) Most of the young adults interviewed in Hyderabad received Domicile certificates easily by furnishing Bonefide letter from school or transfer certificates or school marksheet as age proof and a letter from organization mentioning orphan status and duration of their stay with the organization. Page | 68
c) Orphan certificates received for few children in Rainbow Homes, Hyderabad, with no documental proof of caste of paternal blood relatives. However, as mentioned by the staff, a separate form was to be obtained from Mandal Revenue Offices since Integrated Orphanage certificate application forms were not accepted in MeeSeva centre and Officials found to be unaware of GO of Telangana on Orphanages Integrated Application Form. d) One of the sample young adults whose parents migrated from a district of Andhra Pradesh to Hyderabad faced challenge initially roaming to different offices to access her caste certificate. Since the parental documental proof of caste was from the state of Andhra Pradesh, the girl had to personally meet the Revenue Development officer to explain her birth origin. However, as the caste she belongs to was listed in Telangana state, she could easily get the certificate.
Challenges a) Despite Government Order and application form available in Telangana for applying orphan certificate by the CCIs, most of the cases the forms are not accepted in MeeSeva centers. As an alternative to apply for orphan certificates, a different form found to be available with Mandal Revenue Officer which has to be filled up with details of children and documents such as, Aadhaar card, electricity bill, school certificate on schools’ letterhead Aadhaar card and a declaration by organization has to be furnished to MeeSeva centers. MeeSeva scans all the documents and upload form online and give acknowledgement slips which are to be submitted to Mandal office. Accepted or Rejected message come in the registered mobile numbers and certificates are received within 2530 days in Telangana. b) Team in Hyderabad had to roam around the Mandal offices to know the status and providing different documental proof asked at the Village Revenue Offices. Even after furnishing whatever available with team, certificates of the children were rejected. This indicates that officials wanted to get bribed and hence asked for different documents to furnish. It is in the discretion of issuing authority to ask for any documents if the official is not satisfied with the furnished document c) The main struggle of the team in Hyderabad Rainbow Homes had been to access the caste certificates for children who are from different districts and staying in Rainbow homes in Hyderabad. Many children have parents who have caste certificates of other states and team struggled to access certificates for these children in Telangana state. If some of caste in another state are not listed in Telangana, then it stands difficult to access caste certificate for children with parental proof of another state’s caste. d) Staff in Hyderabad faced challenge in accessing Domicile certificate for few children challenge is to access domicile certificate for children whose parents have some residence outside Hyderabad and children have Aadhar card in the address of Hyderabad Rainbow Homes. In such cases parents of the children are asked to apply for domicile certificate in
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the name of parents because if parents have residence and ration card, the child names would automatically be included in ration cards and domicile certificates. e) Receiving caste certificate for Few young adults had Transfer Certificate from children in Hyderabad Rainbow schools mentioning the caste as ‘Scheduled Caste’ Homes without any documental whereas during admission to colleges, they proof was difficult even after furnished Orphan certificates along with TC to get furnishing letter from organization fee concession and seat reservation. These contradictory documents were not accepted by the mentioning caste based on School college authority and young adults were asked to Records and affidavit in stamp paper include orphan status in Transfer Certificates which about non-availability of paternal or the School Managements opposed. -Social blood relatives’ documents. In Mobiliser, Rainbow Homes, Hyderabad certain cases, Village Revenue officials, during their inspection in Rainbow Homes instructed the staff to apply for Orphan Certificate under BCA, instead of caste certificates. f) The District Probation Office of GHMC organized campaign in Hyderabad and promised to provide Birth Certificate to all children of CCIs without Birth Records. Staff were asked to provide the list of children without birth proof or Aadhar card. The District Probation Officer informed that GHMC would call them to take the children to Medical Officer of GHMC who would do the age determination tests after which certificates could be issued to those children. However, even after six months from the date of campaign by GHMC, neither any information was received by home team from GHMC, nor any Government official visited the homes.
DELHI Successes a) With introduction of application for NABC (Non-Availability of Birth Certificates), many of the children without parents or proper birth proof could access this alternative certificate physically from Deputy Health Officer at MCD or through online application. Few children without any birth proof could also access their Birth Certificates in Delhi furnishing Home Management Letter for Residence Proof, bonafide certificate from school and declaration letters from CWC. In cases of children into open schooling, CWC certification mentioning that children are in Rainbow Homes and enrolled in open schooling was sufficient to access Birth Certificate. b) In cases of discrepancies in legal identity documents for young adults in Delhi, CWC letters were not required. The staff and young adults, who were interviewed mentioned that they easily re-applied for modifications with photograph along with a letter from organization/home and the changes were made by the officials
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c) Incidences of bribing the officials or paying arbitrary amounts to the agents by parents was not observed in Delhi because whoever could avail certificates in Delhi, could access going by the government’s laid down process.
Challenges a) Initial process of birth registration for the first few YAs in Delhi was very troublesome. Home team had to shuffle between the Tehsildar’s office and other authorities for three year. The team faced refusal to process the forms of the YAs because according to the officials, provision for alternative registration did not exist for citizens without birth proof and there were no guidelines by the center for processing those late registrations. Declarations from CWC was submitted to the Tehsildar in MCD because the officer said that applications for children without birth proof were to be approved by Central Government, after that MCD could arrange camp in Rainbow Homes to issue certificates to all. But one year passed and no information came from MCD. The team met the officials and handed over a list of children (orphan, with parents, single parents, with relatives). MCD told to apply in bulk number with filled in application forms for these children. Ultimately with proper list of children with parents’ background, CWC letters, the home team could make Birth Certificates for 100 children together. b) In case of a girl, the name of parents in school record was wrongly registered and not corrected before board examination registration in class 9. As a result, Class10 mark sheet had wrong name of parents, which posed an issue for registration of Birth Certificate. Principal of the school said that the rectification would be done by Municipal Corporation of Delhi against a letter from CWC confirming the name of the parents. However, CWC did not have any concrete proof of names to authorize a letter and hence did not provide any declaration. On the other hand, MCD clarified that the school Principal concerned is responsible for any change in mark sheet. Ultimately, no solution was found for the girl and she did not receive Birth Certificate. c) Another two YAs of Kilkari Rainbow Homes faced similar problem since parents’ names between these two girls got exchanged in their school records. The staff of the home went to the Principal of the school as well as to CWC for rectifications, but by the time Birth Certificates for both the girls were already received with wrong names of parents and both the girls reached 9th class. The Principal of the school could not make any changes as the details were already sent online to CBSE board for registration. Hence, parents’ names of these two girls in their school leaving certificates came different, as per the school records. d) The team in Delhi struggled to get any alternatives to access fee concession or seat reservations for children without parents as there is no Orphan policy or Government order towards issuance of orphan certificate in Delhi. According to few officials interviewed for the study, “someday or the other the orphan children would either be adopted by some parents or would be rehabilitated to foster families. Why would they
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need any special policy or certificate, if they are adopted by well off parents or foster families?”
PATNA Successes a) Few young adults interviewed in Patna spoke about receiving birth and caste certificates through agents within a month by furnishing only Aadhaar card and a fee of Rs. 500 per application.
Challenges a) Main challenge faced by the staff of Rainbow Homes was lack of uniform fee for registration of birth across the state of Bihar. Although the Government has laid down process and the Act specifies fee for birth registration including late registration charges but many intermediaries are involved in the processes who mislead the applicants. The Birth Certificate Registrations for the interviewed YAs have been done through parents who were un-aware about the process while applying. Also, since most of parents did not had proof of birth, the applications were routed through agents, who charged arbitrary amounts taking advantage of their lack of awareness. One of the girls could not get original copy of birth certificate from the agent who charged high amount and provided only the photocopy of the certificate. In another case, Birth Certificate was not received by a girl because it required Aadhar card and there was an error in her Aadhar card. This error correction in Aadhar required Domicile certificate/ parental proof again required Aadhar card. Hence, the girl was stuck in a loop with no assistance for an alternative by the officials. b) Accessing certificates from Block Development Offices in Bihar posed challenges for parents of young adults as well as staff members responsible to access identity documents for Rainbow’s children. According to the staff, “queues are very long and parents/ guardians often have to undertake many trips to the office to submit documents”. Staff at Rainbow Homes also faced problem since Block officials refused to make certificates for more than two children at a time from one applicant. According to the YAs, sometimes agents come to villages claiming that they can make the caste or domicile certificates within 8-10 days with a fee but, since there is no assurance of their services and the fee charged is arbitrary, most of YAs do not rely on these agents. c) As majority of parents are non-literate, Aadhar forms of children were filled by other people at a price. Parents of YAs who were interviewed for the study have availed Aadhar cards of their wards but to get this the parents had to pay between Rs.100-400/- per card. Page | 72
YAs also complaint that despite standing in line for hours to update their Aadhar card it was not updated which posed problem in applying for other certificates. d) There is lack of uniform fee in accessing other documents-caste, birth and domicile certificates. Agents charge between Rs. 300-600/- per application for Birth certificates, between Rs. 80-300/- per application for Domicile certificate and between Rs. 100-200/per application for caste certificates.
BANGALORE Successes a) All the young adults interviewed in Bangalore had applied for certificates offline visiting the Samjya Kalyan Kendra (Social welfare department) and Tahsildar office with their parents, whereas few received certificates with the help of Rainbow Home Team members. The parents of the children applied for the Caste certificate in the Social welfare department in their respective locality and received it within two months of application, as they had furnished proper documental proof. However, different fee amount was charged to the parents ranging Rs 50 to Rs 200 per application. b) Few YAs in Bangalore received Domicile certificates producing ration card with parents’ address, Aadhar Card with Rainbow Homes address or Income Certificate of parents, whereas few young adults in residential colleges furnished certificate given from college as a proof of Residence to access domicile certificate.
Challenges a) YAs in Bangalore, were not clear about which offices to be visited and which supporting documents are required to be furnished along with applications. Hence, they had to make multiple trips to different offices for applying for different legal identity documents. Most of the YA’s complaint that they had to stand in queue at least two hours and had to visit the same office for about a week to apply for certificates by hand. b) One of the YA received Caste certificate after paying giving multiple visits to the offices and standing in long queue for hours together. On a payment of Rs.200, the girl received the certificate after two months. Two more young adults in Bidar were asked to come to the office many times with the documents like Aadhar card, Study certificate, etc. One more young adult received the certificate from Nadakacheri office after many months. The girl mentioned that it took almost a week to submit all documents as the officials asked to come next day many times. c) Messages of accepting or rejecting application does not always come to the registered mobile numbers of the applicants. One of the young adults interviewed in Bangalore mentioned that she went to the Government office in JP Park with a recommendation letter from the Organization stating her duration of stay at Rainbow Homes and applied for caste certificate paying Rs.250. Even after continuous follow up with officials for eight months after applying, neither she received any message of rejection nor received the Page | 73
certificate. During our interview with officials at Revenue department, it was revealed that the girl’s application had been rejected without showing any reason for it.
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Chapter 6: Experiences and Best Practices of different organizations This chapter focuses on understanding the experiences and challenges in providing legal identity documents to the children under their care that hinders effective rehabilitation of children in society by different non-government organizations (NGOs) who are practising child care. The study was carried out in seven child care institutions in five cities: Kolkata, Delhi, Hyderabad, Patna and Bangalore. Information was collected through individual interviews with NGO representative on a semi structured and open-ended set of questions. Through discussions with the experts in the NGOs, attempts have been made to document their opinions and recommendations on possible improvements in the systems and processes in delivering legal identity documents without much documental proof, keeping in mind the specific needs of children.
WHAT WORKED WELL? As part of preparing children for better re-integration into society and home placement, BOSCO, Bangalore have initiated to provide important legal identity documents including Aadhar Cards to all children under its care. Access to Birth and Caste certificates for these children are done through some agents and arranging affidavits from a lawyer, since most of the children lack birth proof or any parental document to prove their caste. The birth certificates of children without parents are accessed by giving a letter from BOSCO to the lawyer and taking affidavit on the estimated date of birth. For caste certificate also, they approach to the advocate with a letter from BOSCO stating the orphan status of the children. Don Bosco Navajeevan, Hyderabad provided Aadhar cards, birth certificates, caste certificates and orphan certificates to the children under its care. a. The organization could access Birth Certificates for children in very short period of time through agents. According to the staff, owing to the delays in government’s laid down process for not having proper documentation, they had to rely on agents against hefty amount of broker fees. GHMC mentioned that birth certificates for orphan children above 15 years with no birth proof cannot be issued by GHMC. Hence, in order to ensure YA’s smooth admissions to colleges, the organization paid Rs.5000 per child to brokers and furnished only a letter from organization stating the background of the child and duration of stay with Don Bosco. b. Through the Government Order issued in Telangana, 4 boys in Don Bosco Navajeevan received Orphan Certificates from Mandal Revenue Officer within one Page | 75
month without paying any extra fees. None of the officials came for verification but asked about the letter from organization stating about the duration the children with the organization and certificates from a Local leader of the community or village panchayat. One out of these four boys did not know his originality, but the local leader’s letter worked well and he received Orphan Certificate. Other three boys were from different villages and hence, the community leader issued declaration certificates that were accepted by the MRO to issue Orphan Certificate. c. The organization could also access caste certificate for two children in Don Bosco through agents paying hefty amounts of Rs.5000 per child besides furnishing Aadhar card of the children and Income certificates of their parents. Before issuing the certificate, the Mandal Revenue Officers came to the organization for enquiry and asked to the staff about how caste status of the children was known. According to the team members in SOS Children’s Village, Kolkata and Patna, CWC approvals such as placement orders were helpful in getting Aadhar cards for children under their care. If children are received by the organization through police, the police have some document maintained with them which were also found to be helpful to apply for Aadhar Cards for the rescued children. In the absence of such documents, the best process is to apply Non-Availability of Birth Certificate (NABC). Under this process. a. The organization has submitted the filled-in form along with a letter in the organization’s letterhead explaining the tenure of the children, estimated date of birth and other details of children to the First-Class Magistrate to make an affidavit clarifying that that the children did not know whereabouts of parents and families were not traceable. The Sub Divisional Officer (SDO) or heath officer’s signature has been taken on the affidavit before submitting them to the issuing authority. - As mentioned by the team, in cases where SDO or health officers are not available, gazetted officers can provide signature in the official letterheads that are to be submitted to the issuing authority. - Alternatively, medical practitioner of the child’s birth villages can provide letter and any two witnesses who knows the child such as, relative or friends from the place of rescue can sign. - One option can be contacting ChildLine and requesting them to provide a letter for the list of children requiring Birth Certificate. In Kolkata, Child Line prescribed format mentioning details of the children in CCIs requiring Birth Certificate can be helpful to access certificates from KMC. b. In order to access Caste Certificate for children without paternal blood relative’s documents, panchayats of the children’s places of origin were contacted. There were cases where relatives of the children under the care of SOS went to the Gram Panchayat to fetch the letter from panchayat mentioning their caste, which was helpful to access certificates for children. However, for children from urban areas, affidavits had to be made from lawyers to access caste certificates as local Page | 76
leaders/ councillors never agree to provide any letter for children under care of CCIs. Balemane, an organization working to empower disadvantaged girls by providing a home, education and holistic development to girls from rural communities surrounding the city of Bangalore also provides legal identity documents to the children under its care. So far, Balemane has provided the girls with Aadhar Card and PAN card. However, they are still struggling to provide Birth and Caste certificates to all their children. a. Few children with single parents in Balemane received Birth Certificate within 6 months by furnishing a letter from the organization to Gram Panchayat of the children’s origin of place, asking for Nativity Certificate. Producing that Nativity Certificate received from GP along with Aadhar cards of parents to the certificate issuing authority in Bangalore , the girls received the Birth Certificates. b. Orphan and Abandoned girls received Birth Certificates with a medical certificate from doctor mentioning estimated age of the girls and submitting them to Magistrate Court through an Advocate to give a letter to the Department to issue certificate. Baalemane nominated an advocate who prepares all affidavit required for orphan girls to present to Magistrate court to access certificates. c. To access caste certificates for children from Bangalore, filled-in application form along with school living certificate of the child / bonafide letter from school and a letter from organization was submitted to the Taluka office of same jurisdiction of the organization. For children originating from rural areas, community letters from Gram Panchayats mentioning the castes of those children were acquired through a letter from Organization requesting the GP. This was helpful to apply for caste certificates for these children. According to the staff, caste certificates were applied through CWC declaration about the child’s placement into organization for migrated children from different states. Salam Balak Trust, Delhi runs residential programmes to provide safe child friendly shelter for children rescued from street situations and any other distress situations. As part of Community Outreach Program, the organization provides Aadhar cards to all children under its care homes as well as in collaboration with Save the children in the different communities. However, Birth and Caste certificates had been a struggle for the organization. Caste Certificates were provided to very few children whose castes were identified through visiting their villages to get letters from communities. Udayan Care, Delhi nurtures and the prepares the out-of-homecare children including, once parentless, abandoned or abused children in need of protection, staying by their side as they grow through the different phases of life—childhood, adolescence and adulthood. According to the team, ninety percent of the children under the organizations received Aadhar Cards going through Government’s laid-down process. Few children at Udayan Page | 77
Care received Birth certificates providing CWC declaration and a letter from organization mentioning details of the children. Udayan Care has launched Care Leaver Association and Networks (CLAN), a youth collective who left any CCI at any point of time. 28-30 Care Leavers from different CCIs who are the members of this CLAN arrange meetings/conversations with network of civil society organizations from different countries to discuss needs of care leavers and required policy supports to address the needs at national level. Few YAs in the network who struggled to access their own certificates now help other YAs to access legal identity documents with ease. Sanlaap India, Kolkata runs the shelter home “Sneha” for girl children who are rescued from commercial sexual exploitation through the scheme “Swadhar” of Government of India. Sneha is not just a Shelter Home wherein children are provided with basic education and facilities of food and accommodation, but also is a holistic programme encompassing Education, Mental Health Interventions, Vocational Training and Economic Initiatives. The organization initiates to access Aadhar Cards, Caste Certificates and Birth certificates for the girls under its care before they move out from the organization on attaining maturities. a. According to the staff, accessing Aadhar Cards had been easier for children without families, by furnishing CWC declaration, School Bonafide/ School Leaving Certificates and a letter from the councillor of the concerned CCI locations to General Post Office (GPO) of Kolkata. In case of children who dropped out from school and did not have any school bonafide document, the organization accessed Aadhar Cards by producing letters from gazetted officers1 in official letterhead with clear mention of their administration positions and ID proofs. b. Aadhar cards could be accessed by children under Sneha Shelter Home through the Government schools they study in. However, not all the schools took initiative to get their Aadhar cards for their children against the bonafide certificates. c. Few children in Sneha Home received Birth Certificates very easily through Government’s laid-down process since their parents could furnish letters from Hospitals where the children were born. d. In order to receive Domicile Certificates, for few children of Sneha Shelter Home affidavits are made furnishing school certificates and showing the Sneha Home’s address as the children’s address proof, since the families/parents of these children stay on the streets.
1
An officer or public servant, who is appointed under the seal of the Governor at state level or by the President of India at the national level (and in the Union Territories), requires being listed in the Gazette of India or state government gazette and is considered to be a Gazetted Officer. To that effect, they are de jure representatives and delegates of the Indian State and the President.
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WHAT WERE THE BOTTLENECKS IN THE PROCESS? According to the team members in Don Bosco Hyderabad and Kolkata, none of the legal identity documents received for the children under their care through Government’s laiddown processes, rather all certificates so far have been accessed through brokers paying the brokerage amounts. In Hyderabad, the GHMC called up meeting with CCIs and informed that they would come to the CCIs for age verifications and issue birth certificates to all children under their care. However, no one turned up so far from GHMC for age verification of the children in Don “How can CCIs manage paying hefty amount to brokers for accessing Bosco Navajeevan Hyderabad. According documents that are actually the right of to the staff, if the applications are children and its government’s submitted through brokers, no one from responsibility to issue!” Mandal Revenue Office comes to the CCIs - An NGO representative in Hyderabad for verification and certificates are received in two days. SOS Children’s Village in Kolkata faced challenge in providing Birth Certificates for few children who came from Meghalaya with no documental proof. However, paying Rs.1000 per child to the lawyer for an affidavit would work to access Birth Certificate for these children without showing any proof, though it poses burden on the organization resources for such payment because none of the donors agrees to fund for such things. The staff also pointed out that in cases of children from rural areas with no documental proof from relatives, letters from gram panchayats could help to access the certificates easily. But children in urban areas cannot avail this facility as letter from Councillors were not accepted by the authorities for issuing birth certificates. Team in Don Bosco, Kolkata mentioned that Kolkata Municipal Corporation asked for backdated medical certificates mentioning the children were born on the said dates under the doctor’s supervision. However, this process may not be ethical and possible because most of the doctors would deny providing such letters. In terms of accessing caste certificates for children, the challenge is to get proof of relation with the extended family members (relatives). As mentioned in the Act, Caste Certificates of the relatives would be helpful document while applying caste certificates for children. Getting proof of relations that needs to be submitted along with caste certificate of relatives or letter from Gram Panchayat is not that easy. The team member interviewed at Balemane, Bangalore spoke about challenges in case of girls without parents and relatives. The staff had been trying to access their caste certificates through affidavits from Advocate which involves costs as well as lots of time. The organization also faced challenges to access Caste certificates for the children who are not from Bangalore city and do not have paternal documents. In such cases, the staff had to spend lot of time in reaching out to gram panchayat of child’s birthplace to get a Page | 79
letter from GP mentioning caste details. Another challenge has been to access Birth Certificates for children with no birth records, because the staff had to follow offline alternative procedure such as, accessing medical certificate and reaching out to Magistrate Court that involved a lot of processes and was time consuming. Online Birth Certificate was not being tried in BaaleMane as girls do not have any supporting documents that are required to upload for online applications. The team at Salam Balak Trust in Delhi mentioned about their difficulties in accessing the caste certificates for the children in their care homes because most of the children’s parent status are not known and are not in contact. Hence, collecting paternal documents had been difficult for the organization. Udayan Care, Delhi faced challenge in issuing Caste Certificate for the children under its care because of no paternal documents of children. Also, JJ rules of 2000 made a new category called “socially disadvantaged category” in Delhi and ordered to issue Economically Weaker Section (EWS) certificates to economically weaker section of the society from general categories. Hence, the organization initiated to access EWS certificate for children of general categories so that they can avail 10% reservation for the GEN-Economically Weaker Section in higher education all over the India and government jobs. The staff approached to ICPS officials under Women and Child Development Department (WCD) –the issuing authority of EWS certificate and submitted written application to the officials requesting issuance of EWS certificates for children under their care. However, in reality, there is lack of clarity among Departmental officials regarding the Government Order, policy of EWS certificates and details on who are the issuing authorities and what are the supportive documents required. Hence, no such certificate has been issued by the WCD so far. The staff also pointed out that accessing Domicile Certificate for children in Delhi is equally challenging, since a lot of incidences of fake certificate issuance came into light. Hence, documents such as, CWC declaration or letter from the organization showing tenure of children in the organization are no more accepted by the Review Department for issuing Domicile Certificates for children under CCIs. Team at Sanlaap India, Kolkata mentioned that officials are not ready to understand the ground level problems and cases of children who needs alternative arrangements beyond government’s laid-down processes. o Accessing Birth Certificate was very difficult due to lack of supporting documentation for children, especially children. School leaving certificates were not taken as valid documents by the issuing authority in Kolkata. o Efforts made to advocate with Principal Magistrate of Juvenile Justice Board asking for alternative processes to access Birth Certificates for orphan. The Magistrate asked for the list of orphan children and suggested to collect CWC letter mentioning estimated date of birth, ossification tests from doctor, letter from organization stating tenure of Page | 80
the children with the organization to get the court order from Magistrate. As per this process, the First-Class Magistrate will give a court order to the Department stating that these children are eligible to get the birth certificate. However, even after application with affidavit and order from First-Class Magistrate, issuance of certificates is still on hold. o Some other challenges faced by the organization are; -
Only 100 applications are taken per day for Birth Certificates and only 15 applications per day for Aadhar enrolments. Taking the children every day to the authorised registration site and being in the queue for long time is very difficult.
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Making Affidavit to get Birth Certificate is difficult as it involves a long process. Home staff need to provide his/her own document, a certificate from the CCI about the staff’s tenure with organization.
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Gather proof to show to the First-Class Magistrate to get Court order, if the children’s parents are dead by road accidents. It creates problem because accessing death certificates are difficult as children are not able to reveal the exact location of accident.
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Access documents and make affidavits for children whose parents are not in contact as their presence are required for making affidavit.
o POCSO case children whose fathers are not traceable or refuses paternity are struggling to get birth certificate. Furnishing the documents of the mothers or maternal relatives are not accepted as officials are asking for father’s name to be filled in the forms as well as documental proof of only fathers or paternal blood relatives. Also, Children whose mothers are in prostitutions cannot show the names of the biological fathers and therefore struggling to get the certificates. o The team mentioned that there are ways to access Birth Certificate for children without birth records by bribing the agents which does not require to show any proof or documents. However, the agents ask for Rs. 1000 per child for birth certificates.
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Chapter 7: Alternative Procedure in Special Cases of Street/Orphan children ALTERNATIVE PROCEDURE FOR DISPOSAL FOR CHILDREN WITH NO DOCUMENTARY EVIDENCE Children in especially difficult circumstances, such as, children in street situations, orphan, abandoned children, in most cases neither have birth proof or parental proof to apply for legal identity documents such as birth certificates, caste certificates, domicile certificates etc. Hence, application for late registration of birth as well as applications for caste/community/domicile/residence certificates require few alternative methods deviating from the existing laid down processes. Officials in sample states were interacted to understand the alternative methods to go with for these children since they lack documental proof as required in the existing laid down processes. This chapter focuses on documenting alternative methods of accessing legal identity documents based on interactions with issuing authorities at different levels.
Birth Certificate: What, if people/children have no Birth proof? What, if the births were not officially recorded? What, if the Birth Proofs have been lost or tattered? The above situation would be difficult for those persons to avail other important legal identity documents such as Aadhar, PAN, voter ID card or restrict admission to schools/ colleges, among other difficulties. The non-availability of birth certificate (NABC) in India is one of the lesser-known documents that could be an alternative to apply for the birth certificate even after 30 years of the age. NABC is not an alternative of birth certificate but pivotal to get Birth Certificate. Being unregistered, the birth registration requires a legal procedure to be carried out hierarchically. In case of urban areas, applicant needs to visit to the competent authority, i.e., Municipal Corporation (MC) where Deputy Health Officer is the issuing authority. Apart from that, vaccinators in vaccination centres run by State Governments or paramedical staff of the health centre also act as Registrar. In villages, persons need to visit Gram Panchayat or Para Medical office in the locality where the applicant was born. In case the petitioner was born in any hospital or nursing home, the zonal Municipal Corporation office is to be approached; in case of birth occurrence in the vehicle, the petitioner needs to apply for NABC in the registration centre of the area where the vehicle first stopped; in case of birth Page | 82
occurrence in home, the petitioner needs to approach the vaccination centre near the home where the petitioner was born. The applicants need to place a request to the health officer or registrar for an on-paper statement in a prescribed format. The Registrar may provide printed application form to fill or alternatively issue a statement/affidavit. This statement/affidavit should be drafted on the stamp paper worth Rs.20 or more and under the observation of the A1 magistrate of the MC or Sarpanch of GP or a HOD of the para-medical staff. The affidavit should clearly state that the birth is not found in their record books. The deputed registrar will apparently mark that no record of the birth of applicant born on (mentioning date of birth), living in the location exists in the government records. The applicants need to make sure to have supporting document as secondary evidence other than primary proof of birth (in case certificates are damaged) which can be any of the following checklist: i) ii) iii) iv)
v) vi) vii) viii)
Hospital records with the name of parents and the child, attested by the doctor; School records, as in a School Leaving Certificate, Mark Sheet, Matriculation; Certificate, Degree Certificate or 10th/12th Class Certificate; A letter from the School’s head stating the name, DoB and place together with the parent’s name on that legal letterhead; Or A letter issued by the ‘Jail In-charge’, if the child was born in the jail Or A letter issued by the head of the boarding house/Institution, the child was born there Or A letter issued by vehicle in charge, if the child was born in the vehicle. Or A letter issued by the village headman/ in-charge of local police station, if the child was found deserted in a public place Or A letter issued by the authorised medical officer of the hospital/nursing home where the child was born. Ration card/ Voter ID Card/PAN/Aadhar/Driving license A church record that bears its seal at the time when Baptism was occurred, stating the name, parents’ name, place and DoB- In case of Christian minority. An adoption decree at the time of adoption- In case of adopted children Statement of two witnesses (which can be the mother, father, relative, friend, neighbour, sibling who would be of 10 years age or more at the time of the petitioner’s birth)
The issuance of NABC is chargeable and the cost varies as per norms of State Governments. The payment can be made through a draft or a cash in case of physical application.
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Unregistered Birth for Orphan, Abandoned and Disadvantaged children For children under care of CCIs in Delhi, there is no direct provisions made because there are no ways to confirm place and time of birth of such children. However, as an alternative, special order from SDM can be availed to provide birth certificates to them. The following process can be followed: 1. In case of delayed birth registration for children with parents, the parents need to submit form along with documents to the Tehsildar at the place of birth, where the details will be verified before issuing certificates. Along with form, a request letter from the father/mother; Child Welfare Committee letter mentioning details of children and reasons for their placement with CCIs; Aadhar card of parents or children are to be submitted as documental proofs. 2. In case of delayed birth registration and no CWC letter, the Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) of the area of CCI can be approached to get a Delayed Birth Order. Organization’s letter to be submitted to the SDM to get that order with supporting documents such as Aadhar card, School Bonafide Certificate/Transfer certificate of children on the letterhead of School HM and ID proof of the Trustee/ Head of the CCI. 3. In case of children without parents, Birth Registrars to be approached physically along with applicant’s ID and documents such as, letter from Child Welfare Committee mentioning details of children. For children who are not verified through CWC, online application can also be done with SDM order. 4. To apply late registration online for children, organizations need to access official website of the government visiting https://edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in/ in/ en/ Public/ ApplicationForm.html to download the form “Issuance of delayed birth order” and affidavit for Birth Registration Order (https://edistrict.delhigovt.nic.in/eDownload/ InputForm/Input_9063.pdf). The form can be filled and scanned copy of Aadhar card can be uploaded to submit the application. After successful submission, automated application ID would be generated. An order from SDM with dates & places of birth can be taken which along with application ID and CWC certificates can be submitted to the birth registrar.
For children under care of CCIs in Hyderabad, following steps can be followed to apply for birth certificates 1. Child Care Institutions need to approximate a DOB based on the parent/ guardian’s testimony and home medical officer’s medical examination which are recorded in individual child profile at the time of admission into CCI. 2. The CCIs need to make an affidavit with date given by guardian as self-declaration of DOB and then visit to nearest PHC/ CHC for examination report by a medical officer (Civil Assistant Surgeon). Alternatively, a letter can be written to the head of the Hospital Page | 84
requesting a doctor to visit the CCIs to conduct age-determinations of children in case of multiple children’s birth certificates are to be applied. 3. CCIs need to fill “late registration birth application form” available in online portal, as mentioned in Chapter 4, and obtain signatures of 2 gazetted officers on the form. The doctor who conducted the examination may also sign in the form. 4. The next step is to submit the form to concerned MeeSeva centre attaching copy of Aadhar card of any of the Home Staff of the organization or Head of the organization along with Aadhar card of the child (if available), bonafide certificate/ Transfer or school leaving certificate of the child. 5. The next step involves verification done by health assistants who will come to the home and interact with children and staff.
For Children under the care of CCIs in Bangalore, following steps can be followed to apply for birth certificates For children under the care of CCIs in Bangalore rural and urban who do not have birth record or whose births are not known, an affidavit from lawyer can be made furnishing address proof of the Organization, certificates from local doctors mentioning date and place of birth of children under the care of the organization. The affidavit along with late registration form can be submitted to the Taluka office, Kandyaya Bhavan, Bangalore. Charges by the Lawyers for affidavit may vary between Rs.2000 and Rs.3000 per child. In rural Bangalore, doctor’s certificate can be availed by approaching the Medical Officer Incharge in Taluk hospital or Medical Officer of Primary Health Centre along with organization’s letter stating about orphan status/ disadvantaged status of children. In urban Bangalore, similarly, medical certificates can be availed by approaching Health Officer in City Corporation or Health Officer / Health Inspector of City Municipal Council or Health Inspectors of Town Municipal Council or the Medical Officers of District Hospitals Resident and Community Health Centres.
For Children under the care of CCIs in Patna, following steps can be followed to apply for birth certificates For children under the care of CCIs in Patna, if registrations ae delayed by more than a year, block office would be responsible to accept application form along with affidavit and other documental proof which will be verified at block office and then submitted to Registrar from Block office. The process includes, 1. If parents of children are available, then Aadhar card of parents’ or children’s along with a letter from Organization is to be submitted to the Deputy Magistrate. The Director of organization can give a declaration/ undertaking in organization’s letterhead about date Page | 85
and place of the birth of the orphan/abandoned children. This Declaration is to be taken to Deputy Magistrate who will give the Court Order addressing Block Development Officer. The applicants also need to provide school leaving certificate/ transfer certificate along with a letter from Principal in school’s letter head mentioning DOB as recorded in school with School Principal’s signature. All these documents along with Court Order can then be signed by the BDO and sent to Birth Registrar of Nagar Nigam. 2. In case of orphan/parentless children, the guardian of the children is the CCI where the children stay. Therefore, school certificates and letter from school mentioning DOB and an affidavit from lawyer mentioning place and date of birth along with children’s Aadhar card (if available) or Aadhar card of organization representative along with declaration of Organization about orphan status can be submitted to Deputy Magistrate to get Court order post which the same process would continue. Following documents are to be furnished in case of children under CCIs without parents: i) organization’s letter/ declaration in official letterhead ii) detailed child profile iii) Affidavit from a lawyer mentioning place & date of birth iv) court order from deputy magistrate v) Aadhar card of organization representatives vi) school principal’s letter with signature. 3. Alternatively, organization can make an Affidavit for 10-12 children at a time mentioning that children are taken care of by the CCI. This affidavit can be from Notary Magistrate. If children are into school, then additional certificate from school can be attached with organization’s affidavit.
For children under the care of CCIs in Kolkata, following steps can be followed to apply for birth certificates
1. Children with no certificate but proof of birth (parents are available)- Irrespective of the background the process is to arrange i) medical certificate from a doctor mentioning name of parents in certificate which would be produced to an advocate to make affidavit and court order in stamp paper of Rs.20 from first class judiciary. The order to submit to Kolkata Municipal Corporation to get certificate. 2. Children with no documental proof of birth (date and place): Doctor of the CCI can provide Medical certificate of each child mentioning estimated date of birth and place of birth based on medical examinations which can be submitted to First- Class Judicial Magistrate to take court order on the basis of affidavit and medical certificate. Apart from that, a letter from school on letterhead of school signed by headmaster/Principal can be accompanied with court order. For the complete orphan children with no documental proof, copies of detailed case history of each child, School Bonafide/school leaving certificate, CWC certificate has to be submitted to the legal officer. Different First-class magistrates can be approached to Page | 86
get Court Order for each child with Medical certificates from different doctors who will write that the children were born under their supervision in their individual capacity in different times and places. If children’s parent’s names are not known, the names can be created to put in the medical certificate. If the births are in rural area, Gram Panchayat’s letter to produce to first class magistrate to get court order would suffice. Documents required: i) Doctor certificate, ii) CWC certificate, iii) first class magistrate’s affidavit and original Court Order, iv) case history of children, v) School bonafide/ school leaving certificate. It will be mentioned in the affidavit that the child who was born somewhere else is now under CCIs with declaration from CWC. Both doctor certificates mentioning dates and times of birth, parent’s names and CWC certification linking the child with same parent’s name mentioned in medical certificates can be produced to first class magistrate to get the affidavit and Court Order. KMC will not do any verifications, if the said documents are furnished by the applicants with no other documental proof. 3. There are instances where Parents informed First Class Magistrate that the children were born under supervision of Aaya (non-institutional) and hence there is no proof of birth. In such cases also the First-Class Magistrate can give the court order and the rest of the procedure would follow.
Caste/Community Certificate What is the procedure for disposal in case of street children, especially for Orphan Children with no documentary evidence? For children who have parents but stay in CCIs in Kolkata because of parents being incapable of taking care of children: In case of minor who stays in CCIs and parents stay in other places, parental certificate or documents of any paternal blood relative (who have already obtained caste certificates from competent authority) along with proof of relation with the paternal relative would be valid documents to apply for children’s caste certificate. As local residence proof, organization’s letter or a letter from counsellor in CCI’s locality would be helpful to apply for children’s certificate. Most of the children under care of CCIs, especially orphan children do not have any blood relative to provide documents and those who have parents are not able to provide documentary evidence in support of their claims. The alternative method, according to the guidelines by Backward Classes Welfare Department, Government of West Bengal, for issuance of caste/SC/ST certificates, if the applicants are first generation applicants and are unable to produce documents of paternal blood relation as a proof of caste identity, they can provide a copy of certificates issued by Gram Panchayat representatives /Municipal
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Representatives/ Councillor. Their caste identity will be decided through field enquiry and public hearing by the SDO in their localities. In such cases, children (if not minor) or CCI representative (in case of minor children) would fill up the Affidavit form to declare eligibility to obtain caste certificates mentioning their caste (from the existing lists of caste available with department) to be sworn in before the 1st Class Judicial Magistrate / Executive Magistrate in court stamp paper of Rs.10/. In cases of unavailability of documentary proof, this affidavit form would be attached with field enquiry or public hearing by SDO to get evidences and disposition of local persons or certificates from Gram Panchayats mentioning the castes of the children. The BCW Inspector /Enquiry Officer would visit the spot and take disposition of neighbours and collect information/evidence as required to determine the caste either in favour or against the claim of the applicant. Proper record of information/ evidence to be kept and specific recommendations in favour or against the claim of the applicant to be forwarded to superior authority for hearing. Magistrate generally conduct the hearing and findings of such hearings are recorded for arriving at proper conclusion regarding issuance of the certificate. In Kolkata, DWO conducts the hearing and take decisions on issuance. In cases parents stay in Kolkata, DWO will be the issuing authority whereas in case of parents staying outside jurisdiction of Kolkata Municipal Corporation, the local authority can be contacted to receive caste certificates.
For children who do not have both parents or have single parent but stay in CCIs in Kolkata: For single parent or separated families, if biological father is not in contact with the mother, then father’s present address can be shared with DWO and the SDO can visit the father’s place to get documents (Aadhar, Caste certificates etc) from the father and attach with the applications. In such cases children’s Birth Certificates are mandatory and even if births are not institutional, it has to be procured from Gram Panchayat and to be submitted along with father’s caste certificates. In Bihar, for children who do not have parents or who do not have any caste proof of blood relatives, application form can be submitted through the agents against a fee of Rs.150 per copy. The documents required for applying through agents: -
Aadhar card of the child or the Head of the organization (CCI) An undertaking from organization (CCI) mentioning that children do not have Aadhar card A letter from the organization (CCI) declaring caste of the child along with the detailed child profile.
The agents submit the application form and the documents to the Block office. Verifications from block offices will be done to the CCIs where the children stay to check details of the children before issuing certificates to them. As per the officials in Block Office, Patna, alternatively. The Vikas Mitra, a volunteer under Bihar Mahadalit Vikas Mission (BMVM) of SC/ST Department, Govt of Bihar can be contacted at Panchayat / Ward Cluster levels to apply caste certificate for children with no documental proof. Page | 88
In Karnataka, children with no documental evidences can be taken to the Taluk office physically to apply for caste certificate. Documents to be furnished in such cases are: - Parents ration card - Aadhar card of children as ID proof - An Undertaking from Head of school in HM’s letterhead mentioning caste of the children as per school record or Transfer Certificate. In case of no Ration card, only Aadhar card and study certificate or HM’s letter in official letterhead mentioning the caste of the children would suffice. The application form can be downloaded from Nadakechari website portal (as mentioned in Chapter 4). With all mentioned documents, the CCI can approach respective Taluk, Nadakacheri office in whose jurisdiction the CCI is located, to written application form along with required documents to the Tehsildar. In Telangana, in order to apply caste certificates for children in CCIs, who have parents or paternal blood relatives and whose parents/ paternal blood relatives are able to inform about their own castes, the following documents can be furnished: - Application form for caste certificate - Ration card or Food Security Card of the family - Aadhar card of the child (in case not available, Aadhar card of Head of the CCI where the child stay) - Property document of parents (if available) - Parent employment details and income certificate (if available) - Proof of Address (Parents address preferable, in case parents live on the street, address proof of the CCI where the child stay) - Notary affidavit on Rs.10/- Non judicial stamp paper and Declaration of caste by father or parental blood relatives with 2 different Gazette Officers certification - Attested copy of Transfer Certificate from school / School bonafide mentioning caste of the child as per school record. - Caste Certificate of father or blood relatives (if any) - Sangam Certificate/ certificate from the community in which the child belongs to, mentioning the child’s caste If case of the children whose castes are not known by the parents or in case of single mother or father/paternal relative refuse to give certificates, those children can apply for Orphanage certificate to avail benefits of Government. The orphan certificate in Telangana can be accessed by submitting the following documents to nearby MeeSeva centre along with passport size photograph of the child, -
Filled-in application form “Orphanage Integrated Certificate Application Form” from the CCI A letter from Organization in organization’s letterhead Page | 89
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Institutional certificate of the CCI (form VIII A) Aadhar card of child (if available) An Affidavit from a notary and
For children under the care of CCIs in Delhi: In Delhi, officials in Tehsildar office did not mention about special consideration in applying for caste certificate for children under the care of CCIs. In cases children have parents or any paternal side blood relative who own a caste certificate will be considered as a valid document in applying SC/ST/OBC certificate for CCI children. Relevant acceptable documents for children in CCIs in Delhi are, -
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Copy of caste certificate of Father (or any paternal side blood relative such as, sibling, uncle, aunt, cousins etc.). Certificate of mother or any relative from mother’s side will not be accepted. If mother is separated or in case of death of father also, documental proof of paternal side will only be considered. ID proof of the person whose certificate is furnished Relationship of the child with the person whose care certificate is furnished Child’s ID proof (Aadhar/ PAN/10th class marksheet or School Transfer Certificate) Residence proof of the child (if parents residence proof is not available, proof of child’s staying in the CCI in a declaration from Head of the CCI in the organization’s official letterhead)
Domicile Certificate What is the procedure for disposal in case of street children, especially for Orphan Children with no documentary evidence? For children in CCIs of Kolkata with no documental proof of parents In case of street children, especially orphan, Home Superior (CCI head) can provide a letter from the organizations mentioning about the joining of the children in the CCI and tenure of stay. If the child is orphan and staying in CCI for last 10 years, Collector can consider issuing Domicile Certificate to the children based on the CCI’s address proof. The organization has to apply for their children in the prescribed proforma along with letters from organizations addressing the District Collector of Kolkata. In case children have parents and the parents stay in different district, whereas children stay in CCIs in Kolkata, the CCI’s address proof will not be considered as valid supporting document. This is because the children are not the permanent residence of CCI as parents have places of stay in other districts. In such cases, District Collector of the district of parents’ location can issue the domicile certificate. The District Collector office will arrange police
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inquiry in parents’ location to check resident of the parents in a particular location, even if the children do not stay with parents. In case of no documental proof of either parents or children, three documents can be furnished by the organization such as, i) ii)
iii)
A written declaration/bonafide certificate by School Management stating the details of the children and how long the children are studying in the school; A letter in the Organization letterhead addressing the District Collector requesting to issue Domicile Certificate for the children, mentioning tenure of stay and date of joining of the children in the CCI; A letter from the counsellor of the locality where the CCI is situated along with the application form.
Based on these three documents, police inquiry will be done by sending Inspectors to the CCIs to physically verify the presence of the children. In cases where schools cannot provide Bonafilde certificates for children, cross verification will be done by Police to the school as well as CCIs before issuing domicile certificates to children.
For children in CCIs of Bihar with no documental proof of parents The CCI where children are staying for longer time (more than 3 years) can apply for Domicile certificate of children under care of the CCI. Apart from following the same procedure for application, such as visiting block offices to collect application form and filling up the details of the children, following documents need to be furnished for children who are Homeless -
Aadhar card of the child (if not available, then Aadhar card copy of the head of the organization) Address proof of the organization, since parents do not have a house or are shelter-less The copy of licensing organization (under Society Registration Act and Juvenile Justice Act)
In case of children who have parents and the parents have some shelter (rented accommodation or own house), then the following documents are to be furnished along with filled-in application form: -
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Aadhar card of children or parents. If neither children nor parents have Aadhar card, an undertaking from organization has to be given mentioning that children do not have Aadhar card. Electricity bill of the landlord (Need to write as temporary address in the form).
For children in CCIs of Delhi with no documental proof of parents –
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In Delhi, Domicile Certificates are issued to children upon furnishing Proof of children’s stay in CCI in last 3 years. Documents required for application for children who are orphan or whose parents do not have proper shelters or are homeless: 1. Age proof of the child (School Marksheet/ T.C./ Bonafide certificate or letter from Head of the School in the official letterhead) 2. Address proof of the CCI 3. CWC Letter verifying address of the CCI where children are placed since at least 3 years 4. ID proof of child (Aadhar Card/ Voter ID card) In case of YAs (18+ age group) who moved from the CCIs and staying in different accommodation, the address the places of stay of YA and address of the CCI (if YAs are not staying for 3 years or more in their present places of stay) to be furnished along with filled-in application form, in order to apply for Domicile Certificates.
For children in CCIs of Telangana with no documental proof of parents In cases where children do not have documental proof of parents but stay in the CCIs, the CCIs need to apply for children in MeeSeva centres in Telangana with filled-in application form and furnishing documents such as; -
Adhaar card of child Ration card of parents Study certificate/ bonafide or a writing by Head of the school in official letterhead Organization’s address proof since the child stay in the CCI A letter from head of the Organization about duration of stay of the child into that CCI.
With all these documents the nearest MeeSeva centre can be approached. The MeeSeva official will upload the documents online after payment of fee (Rs.10 per form) and provide an acknowledgment number for each application. Tehsildars in Mandal Revenue Offices are the verifying officials before issuing the certificates to the children in CCIs.
For children in CCIs of Karnataka with no documental proof of parents – In Karnataka, the application form can be collected from Taluka office or downloaded from Nadakechari website portal. In case of children of CCI without any parental documents, the organization can fill up the details of children in application forms and arrange the supporting documents such as; -
Address proof of the CCI (since children are staying in CCIs, instead of parents). Age proof of the child (School Marksheet/ T.C./ Bonafide certificate or letter from Head of the School in the official letterhead) Page | 92
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CWC Letter verifying address of the CCI where children are placed and tenure of the stay of children in the CCI ID proof of child (Aadhar Card/ Voter ID card)
In Karnataka, Domicile certificates are issued to the applicants who are residence of the particular address for at least 10 years. However, for children staying in CCIs for less than 10 year, the issuance of the certificate would be considered by the authority, as per the officials in Revenue Department.
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Chapter 8: Action Research: FactFinding WHAT IS ACTION RESEARCH? Action Research is the method systematic enquiry that involve simultaneous process of taking action and fact-finding, moment to moment theorizing about the result of the action. It is a participatory approach undertaken by individuals with common purpose. Action research creates knowledge based on enquiries conducted within specific and often practical contexts (01-Koshy et al.-4092-Ch-01.indd 4). The purpose of action research is, therefore, to learn through action the practical problems to improve the approach or effectiveness of the system in which the organizations work. Studies (Koshi; 2010) say, -
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Action research is a method used for improving practice. It involves action, evaluation, and critical reflection and – based on the evidence gathered – changes in practice are then implemented Action research is participative and collaborative to work with a common purpose. It is situation-based and context specific. Knowledge is created through action and at the point of application Action research can involve problem solving, if the solution to the problem leads to the improvement of practice
The present study carried out a small action research selecting three young adults from sample cities and designating home staff to understand the entire process practically through actions. In the process, team members were first oriented about the importance of different legal identity documents as well as Government’s laid down processes to apply for each one for the selected young adults. Considering that children in Rainbow Homes lack most of the documents required in Government’s laid–down processes, information about few possible alternative documental proofs, as identified from interactions with Government Officials and other NGOs were given to the designated team members for this exercise. Major focus was given to apply for i) birth certificate, ii) caste certificate, iii) domicile certificates and iv) orphan certificates (only in Trelangana) whereas few YAs lacking basic documents such as, PAN card, Aadhar card and Bank account were helped to access them before applying for other certificates. A sample of 12 young adults in total who had no documental proof was selected to apply for legal identity documents within one month of the commencement of this study. The purpose of the action research was to help team members and young adult have hands-on experience in accessing different legal identity documents. Page | 94
Specifically, it aimed to apply for identity documents through Offline/ Online Modes; document the application process; officials met and places visited during the process; amount of money spent in the process and bottlenecks faced by the team and young adults.
FINDINGS IN THE ENTIRE PROCESS OF ACTION RESEARCH: FROM APPLYING TILL RECEIVING THE LEGAL IDENTITY DOCUMENTS FOR SAMPLE YOUNG ADULTS -
In Bangalore, accessing caste certificates for two girls were difficult as few corrections were required in their Aadhar cards. Repeated visits to Bangalore One Centre were required because every time the team and young adults visited at Bangalore One Centre; the officials told them to come next day stating that server is down. After visiting for 3 consecutive days, the girls could get the corrections like change of mobile number and change in address, on payment of Rs. 50 for each card. It took one month to get the printed card from cyber center against payment of Rs.75.
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Caste Certificate of one YA, Bangalore With corrected Aadhar Card, these two YAs applied for caste certificates at Nadakechari, Bangalore, along with supporting documents such as, study certificate and letter from organization mentioning details of the children and castes. For each certificate, Rs.25 were paid and received acknowledgement slip against each application. Within one and half month, both of the YAs received certificates.
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On the other hand, Caste certificate for another YA in the sample for action research in Bangalore got rejected on the ground of insufficient documental proof. The documents asked by the officials were, Aadhar card of the children, death certificate of the parents (since the boy is Orphan), caste certificate of any paternal blood relative. Document such as maternal uncle’s caste certificate was not accepted by the officials and hence the application for this boy got rejected.
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In Delhi, three YAs were chosen to apply for birth and domicile certificates, since they were not eligible to apply for caste certificate. However, major challenge faced in the whole exercise was to ensure identical entries of applicant child in all Birth Certificate of one YA, Page Delhi | 95
required and relevant documents. Applications for two YAs got rejected on the ground such as, mismatch of parent’s names in different documents and lack of continual residence proof for at least last 3 years. -
Two of the sample YAs in Delhi applied for Birth Certificates to the Registrar at MCD on payment of Rs.35 along with supporting documents such as, letter from organization as address proof, CWC declaration, Bonafide Certificates as age proof and Aadhar card of the children. Since the home staff in Delhi built good rapport with Tehsildar and Additional District Magistrate, they could access Birth Certificates easily within a month. Another YA’s application for Birth Certificate got delayed due to delay in receiving CWC’s declaration letter since the imposition of country wide lockdown in the wake of COVID 19.
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In Hyderabad, three YAs were chosen for action research to apply for birth certificate, caste certificate and domicile certificates. Two orphan girls did not have any documental proof to apply for caste certificate because the relatives were not ready to provide their certificates as supporting documents. Hence, the staff applied for the orphan certificates to get benefits of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes. As per the reservation order for Orphan/destitute children in Residential Institutions of Tribal Welfare, Social Welfare, B.C. Welfare, Minorities Welfare and A.P. Residential Educational Institutional Society [G.O.Ms.No.34, WD, CW & DW (DW) Department, Dated: 27.09-2008], Telangana Government instructed the department for extension Orphan Certificate of one YA, Hyderabad of the benefits of scholarships and reimbursement of fees etc., at par with Scheduled Caste students to orphans whose caste status is not known, duly treating them as casteless.
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As per the “Community and Date of Birth Certificate” relating to Scheduled Castes / Backward Classes under Section 3 (1) of Act 16 of 1993 (Form IIIA- Annexed to G.O.Ms.No.5, Scheduled Caste Development (POA.A2) Department, dated 08.08.2014), these two girls received Community and Death of Birth certificate mentioning their orphan status as “belongs to Orphan & Destitute Children (BCA)” and the date of birth.
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For another boy in the sample, caste certificates could not be accessed and hence, the team accessed “Community and Death of Birth certificate” for the boy that mentioned his caste identity as well as date of birth. Page | 96
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However, the team could not apply for original Birth Certificates of any of the YAs in the sample. As per the officials in GHMC, children without birth records can appeal to the Health Officer of CHC nearby the Home to conduct a medical test of age and provide medical certificate which can be furnished as valid supporting document. However, application letters from the Organization providing details of the children and their duration in Rainbow Homes did not help as the Health Officers denied to accept the application. As an alternative the staff tried applying for “Non-Availability of Certificate for Birth” for all the sample children which are still underway.
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In Kolkata, all three children selected for the exercise did not have any basic documents such as PAN and Aadhar card which are required for applying other major legal identity documents. Two of them received PAN and Aadhar cards but application for other certificates got delayed due to lockdown announcement in the country and hence are underway.
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In Patna, three children selected for action research received caste certificates and residence certificates from Block Development Offices paying Rs.100 for both certificates per child. However, applications for birth certificates for these children goy delayed with announcement of Lockdown and hence are still underway.
Caste Certificate of one YA, Patna
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Chapter 9: Conclusions and Recommendation As discussed in earlier, lack of proof of identity has a negative impact on the protection of rights for children in street situations in relation to education, health and other social services, justice, inheritance and family reunification. Proof of registration and age can help prevent children from being involved in hazardous work, sexual exploitation and trafficking, being recruited into armed groups and being treated as adults in the justice system. It is an important document that requires to access other major legal identity documents. It affects the most to the deprived and vulnerable sections of the society especially, the SCs, STs, children without parents, children of poor single mother and single father, street children etc. Access to important services and benefits is denied to those who are unable to produce the supporting documentary evidence such as, caste certificates, orphan or EWS certificates, Income certificates, even if they belong to the categories for whom the respective entitlements are meant for. Children and young people in CCIs, as identified from Rainbow’s experience and interactions with other NGOs practising child care, face challenges to apply for these identities and entitlement documents are lack of parental proof, lack of place of origin, lack of birth record, lack of record of their nativity and lack of community supports to ascertain their caste. These challenges require actions from Government and Non-government actors, such as the revision, adaptation and/or development of systems, measures and techniques, streamlining alternative procedure in delivering legal identity documents, keeping in mind the challenges of these people.
SPECIFIC RECOMMENDATIONS -
Need orientation for home team members about rights possible alternative documents to be furnish for children with no documental proof. Periodic reviews and reflection with home teams across homes stands critical to understand status and progress of application. This helps to fix issues and challenges in the process and provide alternative ways forward.
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Digital education to the home team is another aspect that needs more focus given that every application for legal identity documents across cities have become online and hassle-free for children with proper documental proof. This will save time from repeated visits to the issuing authorities or waiting in long queue in the offices for submitting applications. Page | 98
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Parents and communities have a low level of awareness about importance of legal identity documents as a basic right and the future negative implications of lacking them. Need to spend time in orienting/ educating community and parents about importance of different entitlement documents and entire process of accessing different certificates such as, birth registration, apply for ration card, caste/domicile/income certificate and enrolment of Aadhar card. Ongoing, active communication campaign is required to make communities aware of the importance and benefits of legal identity documents.
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Managing high community expectations is important. Follow up stands important with community/ parents to understand their challenges in the process till they receive the certificates to rule out incidences of exploitation by intermediary agents.
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Streamline process of collecting all supported documents from parents/relatives of children before starting application procedure for the children. It has been observed that parents of children under care of CCIs try to hide their caste on coming to the cities, especially scheduled tribe parents. Hence it stands difficult for staff at CCI to determine their castes and apply for certificates for the children, as parents do not show their caste identities even if they have them. In certain cases, parents do not know or remember their castes which also pose difficulties to identify castes of their children. In order to streamline the process of collecting documents from parents, efforts must be made to aware parents about the benefits they as well as their children can get from Government possessing appropriate certificates. Special measures required for proper caste determination so help children getting reservations and other benefits. As a special effort, during each Parents’ meetings, the caste list (both SC and ST) of 7-8 states can be read out to the children in the presence of their parents (wherever applicable), so that in cases the parents cannot otherwise recall their caste, can recognize their caste listening to the list. Once the caste determination happens, the alternative procedure of accessing certificates as mentioned in previous chapters can be tried out.
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Accessing most of the legal identity documents including birth registration and getting copies of certificates requires a small amount of fee that varies across states. Late registration of birth, updating Aadhar card also requires fee. Fees charged for obtaining a birth certificate or other certificates discourage poor parents from completing the registration process and obtaining different certificates. Advocate for government regulations to be in place in abolishing fees for accessing legal identity documents. Advocacy efforts may help in promoting universal, free birth registration for all children as well as accessing different legal documents at free of cost. The advocacy efforts may also address the issue of grabbing arbitrary amount of money from poor parents by the intermediary agents.
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Most of the organizations dealing with children in need of care and protection suffers with common challenge suffers with similar challenges in collecting documental proof for children under their care. Hence, working in alliance with other organizations who are struggling with common challenges stands essential, not only because it enhances learning from experience, but due to its effect on efficient resource management.
“There is not much demand so far by children as well as CCIs from the Government to issue important certificates…Strong advocacy by NGO networks together may bring results in accessing legal identity documents.” - As identified by NGO representatives
It was identified that short working hours of the government were insufficient to cope with the volume of applications and demand for services. Due to volume of applications, the officials pay little attention to the needs of children who cannot furnish all required documents. There has to be a platform where difficulties or needs of these children can be presented to the issuing authorities so that they can exchange their views and reflections along with alternative way forwards.
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References 1) Mia Harbitz and Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida, Democratic Governance, Citizenship, and Legal Identity: Linking Theoretical Discussion and Operational Reality, Inter-American Development Bank, 2009 2) Identification in the Context of Forced Displacement; Bronwen Manb, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank, 2016 3) May / 2009; Mia Harbitz Bettina Boekle-Giuffrida; Working paper: Democratic Governance, Citizenship, and Legal Identity 4) https://www.un.org/development/desa/en/news/population/2018-revision-of-worldurbanization-prospects.html 5) Jaap van der Straaten; Legal Identity for All by 2030: How Will We Know? Webhttps://www.researchgate.net/publication/334290437_Legal_Identity_for_All_by_2030 _How_Will_We_Know_SSRN_Electronic_Journal 6) List of acceptable documents as Proof of Identity and Proof of Address from General Public in the Country except in J&K, North East and Assam Service Areas; web: https://dot.gov.in/sites/default/files/2016_11_18%20POIA-AS-II.pdf?download=1 7) Social Inclusion and the Urban Poor; Judy L. Baker, Gauri U. Gadgil; July 2017 8) The Hague Convention on Certain Questions Relating to the Conflict of Nationality Laws, 1930; web- https://www.refworld.org/docid/3ae6b3b00.html 9) Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, 1961; https://www.unhcr.org/ibelong/wp-content/uploads/1961-Convention-on-thereduction-of-Statelessness_ENG.pdf
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10) The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW); web- https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm 11) OHCHR and the right to a nationality; Web- http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Pages/Nationality.aspx 12) Mirna Adjami, Julia Harrington; 18 September 2008; Refugee Survey Quarterly, Volume 27, Issue 3, 2008, Pages 93–109
13) Civil Registration: Maintaining international standards in emergencies; web: https://unstats.un.org/legal-identity-agenda/
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14) The Orphan Child (Provision of Social Security) Bill, 2016 ; Bill no 319 of 2016; Webhttp://164.100.47.4/billstexts/lsbilltexts/asintroduced/2385.pdf 15) The Maharashtra Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Denotified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Category (Regulation of Issuance and Verification of) Caste Certificate Act, 2000; webhttp://www.bareactslive.com/MAH/MH242.HTM 16) The Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969; webhttps://www.indiacode.nic.in/bitstream/123456789/11674/1/the_registration_of_birth s_and_deaths_act%2C_1969.pdf 17) The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010; The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 ; webhttps://www.indiacode.nic.in/handle/123456789/2160?view_type=browse&sam_handl e=123456789/1362 18) Andhra Pradesh Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes – Issue of Community, Nativity and Date of Birth Certificate Rules, 1997; webhttp://www.bareactslive.com/AP/AP245.HTM 19) The Andhra Pradesh (Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Backward Classes) Regulation of Issue of Community Certificates Act, 1993; webhttp://www.bareactslive.com/AP/AP247.HTM 20) World Bank, Identification for Development Strategic Framework, January 25, 2016 UNHCR, Global Action Plan to End Statelessness 2014–24, November 2014 21) Almost 38% of Indian children under the age of five don’t have a birth certificate; Swagata Yadavar, IndiaSpend.com & Disha Shetty, Jan 04,2020; Webhttps://scroll.in/article/948667/almost-38-of-indian-children-under-the-age-of-fivedont-have-a-birth-certificate 22) Why is having a Legal Identity fundamental to Human Rights? Vanessa Viala; 18 June 2019; Web- https://dis-blog.thalesgroup.com/government/2019/06/18/why-is-having-a-legalidentity-fundamental-to-human-rights/ 23) World Bank's Identification for Development (ID4D) Global Dataset, 2017 24) Birth Registration for Every Child by 2030: Are we on track?; December 2019; UNICEF; Web- https://data.unicef.org/resources/birth-registration-for-every-child-by-2030/ 25) Birth registration in emergencies: a review of best practices in humanitarian action; Plan International; April 2014 26) What Are the Implications of Giving up a Caste Certificate? The Wire, Vignesh Karthik K.R; 17/JUL/2019; Webhttps://thewire.in/caste/no-caste-certificate-governance-socialreality Page | 102
27) TS extends reservations to orphans under BC A category; Webhttps://maahyderabad.in/ts-extends-reservations-to-orphans-under-bc-a-category/ 28) Koshy, V. (2010); What is Action Researchhttps://www.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/ 36584_01_Koshy_et_al_Ch_01.pdf
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About Rainbow Homes Program The Rainbow Homes Program aims to protect, care for, educate and empower our most disadvantaged children. These include children who live on city streets; orphaned, abandoned, and violence-affected children; working children; children of farmer – suicide and starvation families; and children of sex workers. We strive to ensure that these children access their rights in loving, open and safe residential care homes in government schools and buildings; and for them to grow into happy, responsible and caring citizens.
Rainbow Homes Program H. No. 1-1-711/C/1, Opposite Vishnu Residency, Gandhi Nagar, Hyderabad -80 Ph : 040 – 27660017 Website : www.rainbowhome.in
