ONE ID, MANY BENEFITS

HARYANA’S PARIVAR PEHCHAN PATRA SCHEME AIMS TO CREATE A POOL OF VERIFIED CITIZENS’ DATA TO IMPROVE WELFARE DELIVERY

- ANILESH S. MAHAJAN

Registering for the Haryana government’s ‘Parivar Pehchan Patra (PPP)’ in January, Sonepat resident Navin Kumar was shocked to find himself listed as deceased in government records. It turned out that instead of his father Tek Ram, who passed away in 2018, the death certificate was issued in Kumar’s name. Given such common goof-ups in government data, including misspelt names and incorrect addresses, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar is confident that his PPP unique family ID scheme will be a game changer.

The PPP is aimed at creating verified data of all families in the state to ensure that citizens are not denied social welfare benefits due to identification problems. On November 1, Haryana became the first state in the country to introduce the unique family ID, with 456 linked services, such as registration of births, deaths and property; student scholarships; and various welfare programmes. The state’s total expenditure for 202122 is pegged at Rs 1.55 lakh crore and Khattar hopes the social sector spending will reach more target beneficiaries through PPP.

SMART DELIVERY