Those who missed Household Survey scared of losing benefits
.jpg "Telangana State IDs spark confusion")
A file photo shows minister T. Harish Rao's family taking part in the survey
Hyderabad: Utter confusion prevails over the decision of the state government to issue new ID cards to Telangana residents.
The state government has failed to give any clarity over who is eligible for these ID cards and what will be its purpose. The government had stated that the cards would be issued based on the details collected in the Intensive Household Survey on August 19.
However, lakhs of households had missed the survey as enumerators had failed to turn up. They are now worried that they might be denied ID cards.
Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao had disclosed his plans of issuing separate ID cards for TS-residents during his meeting with district collectors at the Secretariat on Tuesday.
He had asked officials to link the benefits of all welfare schemes and programmes of the government with these ID cards without giving clarity over who was eligible for the cards.
About 1.5 lakh households in the city are yet to be enumerated in the household survey while about 6 lakh houses in the state were locked on the day of the survey.
There is no clarity over whether these households will be given another chance to enroll for the survey or not. These households are now worried about losing ration, pensions, fee reimbursement, scholarships, health insurance etc. offered by the Telangana State government.
The ID cards have created more apprehension among residents hailing from AP and other states who have been settled in Telangana for years. They wonder that when the government has been issuing separate cards for every benefit like ration, pensions, fee reimbursement etc., what is the need for these ID cards? The reason: The November 1, 1956 cut-off year to determine the nativity of Telangana students to be eligible for fee reimbursement.
This has fuelled concerns among residents whose parents/ancestors were not residents of Telangana prior to November 1, 1956, though they have been residing in Hyderabad and Telangana for decades.
“Issuing of Telangana ID cards is an important decision of the Telangana government. Such an important decision was announced by the CM without giving any clarity.
He just said that cards would be issued based on the recent household survey. What about those who missed the survey on account of failure of officials? We waited for three full days at home on August 18, 19 and 20 to enroll, but no one turned up.
Our entire colony has missed the survey. When we enquired with GHMC officials, they said that a resurvey would be done,” said M. Praveen Reddy, a resident of Endowments Colony in Ramanathapur.
State’s ID card plan may face legal hurdle:
The proposed move of the Telangana State government to issue identity cards to residents of the state is likely to run into rough weather. The state government on Tuesday hinted that it will issue identity cards to the citizens of the state.
It may be mentioned here that the decision of the Telangana State government to extend its FAST scheme only to the students whose families have been residing in the state since November 1, 1956, is already under the judicial scanner.
According to legal experts, state governments have no power to accord citizenship to a person or persons living in their state. Only the Union of India is empowered to issue the Citizenship Cards.
The Centre has already mooted a project to establish the citizenship of each and every person in the country through a nationwide verification exercise.
The Centre in June this year had asked the Registrar General of India to identify the citizens and non-citizens while preparing the National Population Register.
Union home minister Rajnath Singh recently said that the citizens’ register, to be called the National Register of Indian Citizens, will serve as the database for national identity cards, carrying a unique national identity number for each Indian citizen.
If the Telangana state government decides to issue separate identity cards to people in the state, it lead to duplication of the Central project, said legal experts. This might make the exercise illegal.
Legal experts also said that Item 17 in List I of the 7th Schedule of Constitution categorically said that deriving the citizenship of a person or persons is purely in the domain of the Centre and the states have no role to play in that, said the legal experts.
( Source : dc correspondent )
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