"All parties should create a common minimum program to address issue of illegal immigrants": Delhi Assembly Speaker
His remarks came in response to Delhi Lieutenant Governor VK Saxena's recent directive to the Chief Secretary, seeking stricter regulations for the issuance of Aadhaar cards in Delhi. The directive followed reports of a large number of Aadhaar cards being fraudulently obtained by illegal immigrants.
Speaking to ANI, the Delhi Assembly Speaker said, 'This (illegal migrants) is a major problem in Delhi. To resolve it, all parties should come together and, rising above politics, create a common minimum program to address this issue collectively.'
On Friday, the Principal Secretary to the Delhi Lieutenant Governor, VK Saxena, wrote to the Chief Secretary of the Delhi government, urging the enforcement of stringent regulations regarding Aadhaar issuance in the national capital.
In a letter dated July 11, the Principal Secretary highlighted that the illegal immigrants have managed to secure an Aadhaar card on the basis of false documentation or misrepresentation, which, in turn, is adversely impacting local employment.
The letter further noted that illegal immigrants are also getting benefits under the welfare schemes of the Centre and State governments, once they get their Aadhar cards.
The LG secretariat has asked for strict enforcement by Registrars in issuing Aadhar Cards and directed them to switch to the in-house model of Aadhar enrollment within two months.
The Chief Secretary has also been asked to provide a comprehensive list of all Aadhar enrollment centres in the national capital by July 15.
The letter reads, 'It has been brought to the attention of the Lt. Governor that during the course of Security Review Meetings, in several instances, illegal immigrants have managed to secure Aadhaar cards on the basis of false documentation or misrepresentation. This has a cascading impact wherein such individuals are able to secure documents which establish Nationality, i.e. Passport and Voter Identity Cards.'
'They also end up availing benefits under Welfare Schemes administered by the Central and State Governments. Having secured Aadhaar documents, the illegal immigrants secure jobs, depressing local labour markets, and adversely impacting local employment. This also has wider ramifications for National Security,' it added.
According to the letter, the Delhi government has not complied with UIDAI's directions to shift to an in-house model for Aadhaar enrollment by March 2023. (ANI)
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Hans India
5 minutes ago
- Hans India
Tribals in plains suffer injustice
Vinukonda: Vaditya Shankar Naik, national president of the Girijana Praja Samakhya and former member of the State ST Commission, stated that tribal communities in the plains are facing significant injustice and need political representation in the Legislative Assembly. Speaking at a roundtable conference in Vinukonda as part of the 'Tribal Public Awareness Yatra,' he called on the Central and State governments to protect the rights of tribal communities and provide them with political reservations. He also warned that no one would tolerate other communities being included in the ST list. The roundtable, held at the Joshua Kalamandir in Vinukonda town, was presided over by Girijana Praja Samakhya State president Raju Naik. Key leaders and intellectuals from various tribal organisations attended the meeting. Naik expressed concern that even after 80 years of Independence, millions of tribal people in the State lack basic necessities like food, shelter and even essential documents such as ration cards and Aadhaar cards, which prevent them from accessing government welfare schemes. He argued that for proper utilisation of the crores of rupees allocated for tribal development each year, a representative from the tribal community must be present in legislative bodies. He urged tribal communities to unite and fight for their rights. Naik pointed out that several tribal groups, including Sugali, Chenchu, Yerukala, and Yanadi, lack adequate representation. He highlighted that confining political reservations to the forest-hill areas has caused immense injustice to the plain land tribes over the past 58 years. He criticised the persistent attempts by successive governments to include other communities in the ST list, which is a painful trend given the already struggling state of the tribal population. He urged the Central and State governments to recognise this dire situation. Naik noted that from 1962 to 1967, Assembly reservations were based on a district-level unit, which allowed plain land tribes to contest elections in four Assembly constituencies - Kadiri, Kavali, Macherla and Jaggayyapet. However, a change in government policy in 1967 shifted the unit to a State-level, limiting tribal constituencies to only the agency (forest) areas and causing severe injustice to plain land tribes. He called on the community to fight for political, social, economic, educational and employment representation for the plain land tribal population, who constitute half of the State's total tribal population. This is especially crucial as the number of legislative seats is set to increase from 175 to 225 in 2026. He urged every tribal person to contribute to the 'Tribal Public Awareness Yatra' to ensure the message reaches every tribal region. The meeting concluded with a show of solidarity and the unveiling of posters for the yatra. Several tribal leaders attended the event, including Raju Naik, Ravi Naik, Jarpala Krishna Naik, and Hanumantu Naik.
Indian Express
35 minutes ago
- Indian Express
Bihar SIR: As voters scramble for one of 11 identity documents, officials hit on a workaround — the family tree as 12th document
By July 25, when the first phase of Bihar's Special Intensive Revision (SIR) came to a close, not more than 15-20 per cent of the state's eligible voters had attached any of the EC-mandated 11 documents to establish their identity. As volunteers now scramble to help people get the documents, and with merely two weeks to go before the September 1 deadline, several district administrations have found a way around the problem – the 'parivarik suchi' or family tree as an informal '12th document'. According to several Booth Level Officers (BLOs) The Indian Express spoke to, electoral officers in all 38 Bihar districts have been reportedly asked to consider the family tree of a voter and establish her/his closest link to the 2003 list. 'We were told at a district sub-division meeting that for those without any of the 11 EC-mandated documents, we can find a way to draw up a family tree linking them to their parents or grandparents in the 2003 electoral roll. Even if a grandparent or uncle is on the 2003 list and the voter can draw up a family list linking himself to this relative, we consider it as his identity document,' says a BLO, a 54-year-old teacher, in Muzaffarpur. This workaround, say BLOs, has pushed up compliance in several booths. 'Since most voters in the village are below 38 and have not studied till Class 10, this 12th document is working like magic. It's our Rambaan (trump card). Our document-compliance percentage has shot up from 60 to 76 per cent in just five days,' says the BLO. Until now, those not on the 2003 voter list had to furnish proof of their own identity along with that of their parents using any of the 11 EC-mandated documents. If either of their parents is on the 2003 list, they had to submit proof of their identity along with a screenshot of the parent's name on the 2003 list. With Aadhaar not among the 11 approved documents, it was the identity proof that was proving to be the stumbling block. BLO and volunteers, who are tasked with helping people get the documents needed to make it to the final draft rolls, hope the 'parivarik suchi' or the '12th document' could be the answer they were looking for. 'Our seniors did not give us any written instruction or format. But we worked it out,' says the 54-year-old BLO, showing a printout titled 'parivarik suchi'. He explains, 'If, for instance, an applicant is not on the 2003 voter list and has none of the 11 documents – domicile or birth certificates, Class 10 certificate etc – but, say, his grandparents are on the list, he has to give their details (names, polling booth numbers), and names of all their children and grandchildren above 18 years of age, right up to this applicant whose name should be highlighted. If the relative on the 2003 list is alive, she/he will sign the form, and if dead, the form will mention that. The BLO and the BLO supervisor then sign this form and upload it as the applicant's identity proof. But this is not the standard format; BLOs can come up with their own formats.' While the '12th document' has come as a relief, it hasn't ironed out all problems or made the process easier for all. For one, voters still have to go through a cumbersome process of finding out the booth number where their parents voted (if their names figure on the 2003 list) and match it with the records. The process is especially difficult for those who may have moved homes and for women. 'About half the voters in my list are women. About 60 per cent of them are not part of the 2003 voter list and have to give an identity proof for both themselves and their parents. In a lot of cases, the women may have left their maternal homes decades ago. Even for those whose parents were on the 2003 list, how will they come up with identity proofs for the parents? It's very difficult. Can't they let women use the parivarik suchi and establish links with their parents-in-law or other senior relatives on their in-laws' side?,' wonders the BLO as he is interrupted by a colleague from a neighbouring booth. 'It is not allowed because in several border districts, the daughter-in-law of the family is from Nepal. This way, several Nepali citizens married to Indian voters will become voters here,' says the colleague.
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
'List of 65 lakh voters deleted from Bihar rolls uploaded within 56 hours of SC order': CEC Gyanesh Kumar
New Delhi, Aug 17 (ANI): Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Gyanesh Kumar addresses a press conference on Bihar Special Intensive Revision (SIR), at the National Media Centre in New Delhi on Sunday. (ANI Photo/Jitender Gupta) NEW DELHI: Stating that EC has uploaded the list of 65 lakh voters deleted from Bihar's draft electoral roll within 56 hours of SC's directive, CEC Gyanesh Kumar on Sunday exhorted electors and political parties in the state to file their claims and objections in the remaining 15-day timeframe, saying flagging any errors after Sept 1, shall be pointless. Justifying its decision to undertake SIR exercise in Bihar, EC said all the political parties had, for the past two decades, been demanding that imperfections in electoral roll be corrected. "Acting on this demand, EC decided to take up SIR, starting with Bihar," he told a press conference here, while adding that the timeline for SIR in other poll-bound states will be announced "at the appropriate time". Slamming the "vote theft" allegations levelled by opposition parties and their chiefs, EC said the electors, party representatives and booth level officers on the ground are working in a harmonious and transparent manner, endorsing the exercise with their signatures and video testimonials. "It is a matter of concern that endorsements of district presidents and booth level agents of parties are either not reaching their state level and national leadership, or the latter have chosen to overlook these, and are trying to spread misinformation," said Kumar. Clearing the air on timing of SIR, the CEC said that since the annual summary revision was with respect to Jan 1, 2025, April 1 was too early to start the next revision, while Oct 1 would have been too close to the assembly poll due in Bihar in Nov. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like American Investor Warren Buffett Recommends: 5 Books For Turning Your Life Around Blinkist: Warren Buffett's Reading List Undo As regards allegations of hundreds and thousands of voters being registered on the same address, Kumar said in the absence of proper numbering of houses/addresses by the panchayats/municipalities and also the presence of unauthorised settlements, it has been an accepted norm for EC/BLO to register voters from notional addresses, often carrying 'zero' house number. Electoral roll excerpts shared by EC with TOI, of Assam in 1966, Rajasthan in 1980, UP in 1985, show their house number as either missing or as '01'.
