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Context
The Supreme Court on Wednesday questioned the government’s version of Aadhaar as a unique identifier which will benefit the poor to access welfare services, asking how the lakhs of homeless people in the country will get an Aadhaar card without a permanent address
State of homelessness in India
The 2011 Census revealed there are 1.77 million homeless people in the country. They constitute 0.15% of the total population
Backdrop
The context arose during the hearing on the lack of night shelters for homeless people
- The court had previously summoned the Uttar Pradesh Chief Secretary to explain the lack of night shelters, especially with North India in the grip of a cold wave
- The Bench asked if a permanent address was mandatory for Aadhaar enrolment and consequent welfare services. The Uttar Pradesh government replied in the affirmative
- So, how do homeless people get Aadhaar if they have no home or a permanent address,” Justice Lokur shot back
Plight of migrants
Additional Solicitor-General TusharMehta reasoned that the urban homeless were mostly migrants from the rural parts of the country
- They would have a permanent address in their native villages and would have or could apply for Aadhaar there
- The ASG said he would get further instructions from the UIDAI on this aspect
Criticism by the court
The court criticized the Uttar Pradesh government for its poor implementation of the DeendayalAntyodayaYojana-National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM) scheme which had existed since 2014
Government doing its best
Mr. Mehta said the State was alive to the situation and was doing its best to provide shelter to the urban homeless. He referred to the vision document prepared by the Uttar Pradesh government to deal with the issue of urban homeless, and said that as per 2011 census, there were around 1.80 lakh urban homeless in the State
