Keep your UID cards ready to get married, buy house -Neelam Pandey

-The Hindustan Times

Not having a Unique Identification (UID) card can spell trouble for you if you want to get any work related to property and marriage registration or secure certificates from the revenue department of the Delhi government. To encourage people to get enrolled, the department is insisting on a UID card or enrolment number for any kind of public dealing.

What’s more, the Delhi government is considering making UID numbers mandatory for all public services from next year. A proposal to this effect has already been made in a meeting in September and will be sent for cabinet approval.

Arvinder Singh, urban development minister, said, “We are going to launch a massive awareness campaign. After that, we will link it to our schemes.” Dharam Pal, revenue secretary in the Delhi government, said, “From next year, other services will also be linked to UID card and guidelines are being framed for that.”

For now, Pal said if they didn’t have a UID card, “we are even accepting enrolment numbers”. Those who haven’t yet enrolled themselves are being asked to get an enrolment number in the district offices itself.

According to the first-phase figures released in August, a total of 13 million Delhiites enrolled for the project, while cards had been issued to 10.3 million. In the second phase, about 4 million will be added to the UID database.

This is not the only instance where UID is being linked to public dealings. The Delhi government has also tied up with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIAI) for the Annashree Yojna wherein cash subsidies to the ‘vulnerable poor’ are being sent to bank accounts linked to the UID cards.