“80 per cent of children living on the streets don’t have any form of identification and that is the biggest barrier in terms of accessing their rights and services. Schools refuse admission to these children. Health services too are denied to them because they don’t have an identity proof.
“If we can provide all of them an Aadhaar card then it will simplify their access to these services,” said Bidhisha Pillai, Advocacy Director of NGO Save the Children.
The standard operating procedure, prepared by the apex body for child rights NCPCR along with NGO Save the Children, lays down a sequence of actions to be taken for four different categories of street children defined as ‘abandoned or orphan child’, ‘missing or runaway child on street’, ‘street connected child/community child on the street’ and ‘child begging on the street’.
