Identification Paperwork
Access to government help
The team at Bhopa villlage have sought to bridge the gap between the government social security programmes that are available and the Bhopa who have been without even basic ID. This has been a long journey.Â
Many Bhopa do not even have the basic ID documents (an adhaar card) as many where born in the tent houses without medical assistance. Historically, the nomadic lifestyle and a lack of literacy has meant some in the village have been undocumented for most of their life.
In 2020 and 2021 camp ID clinics were held in the village, bringing Bhopa and e-mitra's (paperwork agents) together. These continued in 2022, with Bhopa village paying for 3 more of these camps and resultant ID's, some Pan Cards (tax) and the opening of bank accounts. The latter are necessary if government pensions were to be paid. However, these camps only related to adults. The 85 children remained document less.
Thank you Deepu and Flor di Loto Foundation
As many of the Bhopa do not have any birth certificates, proof of identity has been the first hurdle to overcome. Without Deepu aiding the Bhopa village in this mission, adhaar cards would have been impossible to obtain. Once the government forms were filled in and signed by officials, the applications could be submitted.
The BSNL office and Biometrics
Bhopa villlage made many visits to Pushkar's BSNL office to complete the submission process. Children and undocumented adults were ferried by tuk tuk (£5/R500) from the village, to have their biometric data collected and await the government to verify and send their adhaar cards out. Each adhaar cost £1/R100 but the organisation and preliminary process was time expensive.
Documents Arrive
As the postal system was unreliable, many documents were collected from e-mitra's in Pushkar. People suddenly had ID, tax cards, and widows pensions. This did require subsequent applications, all equally fraught with administrative hurdles and costs. However, people could now travel outside of Pushkar for work. Jan Adhaars (family adhaars, necessary to apply for pensions and health insurance) started to be applied for as well.
Bank Book
Widow Pension
Pan Card
Chorti and her hard won Ration Card
A ration card means that the household gets some basic food every month. Chapati flour and oil being the main staples. This is the only ration card so far obtained. The extensive paperwork process continues. It is vital to helping the families met their basic needs, leaving some room for improvement in all their lives. As you can see from the smiles, people feel enfranchised and able to participate in society much more readily.
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To read more about this complex process please see our blogs.