So far just 11 States/Union Territories have commenced implementation of the Universal Disability Identity (UDID) card project in 306 districts with 2,55,913 cards generated. This is a dismal pace given that there are around 2.68 crore People with Disabilities (PwD) waiting to get the card, which is also known as Swavlamban Card.
And it will not be before the end of 2018 that the project is expected to be kicked off in all the districts given the increased number of PwDs owing to widening of disability categories from seven to 21 as per the new Disability Act announced in 2016.
Sources in the Union Social Justice and Empowerment Ministry, which is the implementing agency, said, the project has not taken off in many States as officials are yet to be trained. As of now, it has been implemented in 318 districts in Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andaman and Nicobar and Rajasthan. Also, many times its not easy to reach out to the beneficiaries who remained confined in the four walls due to their disabilities or social taboos.
The UDID project, which was announced in 2016 aims to encourage transparency, efficiency and ease of delivering Government benefits to PwDs besides to ensure uniformity and enable the beneficiaries to avail common services such as employment and scholarship. Equivalent to the Aadhaar card, the UDID card is a single document of identification, verification of the disabled for availing all the benefits. It will store all the data of PwD in terms of their disability, health record, financial status and link through welfare schemes.
Sources said that a web-based application software has been developed to create national data base for PwDs and also to issue Unique ID Card to them. Those having no fingers for biometric purpose, iris option will be available. Similarly those having no eyes, finger prints will be taken.
The PwD can also apply offline under this project which would take care of the concerns of illiterate persons with disabilities. The Persons with Disabilities Act 2016, enshrined upon the Central and State governments to provide services, create facilities and give support to people with disabilities in order to enable them to have equal opportunities.