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/

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.