Haryana’s mammoth effort to give every family ID is intended to change the game, not in terms of policy making and the implementation of governance. Prime Minister Manohar Lal Khattar spoke exclusively with Editor-in-Chief Anilesh S. Mahajan and explained how Haryana is successfully implementing this initiative when similar states like Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were unable to start. excerpts
Q. How will Parivar Pehchan Patra change politics?
An Indian citizen is identified with an Aadhaar card, a unique ID that helps deliver directly to individuals. But our society is not individual-centric, but family-centric. Hence a family ID card.
Q. Is it limited to beneficiaries of state welfare systems or is it universal?
It’s universal. We have 69,000 families in Haryana whose records are in various departments, either as PDS beneficiaries, land registration or other benefits. The task is to bring synergies into data. We created a separate department, the Citizen Resource Information Department (CRID), to institutionalize it.
Q. How did you collect the data?
First of all by self-declaration by the head of the family with basic information such as family size, names, age, assets and income. It was then verified by teams of five. The data collected in this way is sent to Atal Sewa Kendra.
Q. Have you started linking government systems to this family card?
Yes, we have linked 456 services to PPP. The Mukhyamantri Parivar Samridhi Yojana, PM Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana, PM Durghatana Suraksha Yojna, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, PM Laghu Vyapar Samman Nidhi and PM Shramjeevi Samman Nidhi, PM Fasal Beema Yojana are all linked to this ID.
Q. How will ID help transform people’s lives?
The database helps us identify the bottom one lakh families in the state – in terms of income – and focus our resources on empowering them. Under the Mukhyamantri Antyodaya Parivar Utthan Yojana, we help them find employment or help them start a micro-enterprise, trade or give them two buffalo to start a dairy. We have identified seven departments in the government and given them the task of drawing up plans and strategies to ensure such families livelihoods of at least Rs 1 lakh per year.
Q. Is Family ID relevant to centrally sponsored programs?
No. It is intended for government programs or where it contributes on behalf of the citizen. We’ve identified over 100 such programs, whether it’s marriage assistance for girls or scholarships for schoolgirls. This data will change constantly.
Q. How do you recognize a family unit?
By definition, a family consists of a husband and wife, children and dependent parents. We are currently identifying BPL families with annual incomes of less than Rs 1.8 lakh; we will progressively take families’ per capita income into account. For example, if a family has three members, the per capita income is Rs 60,000, but if it has six members, it is Rs 30,000. Although we haven’t looked into it at the moment, we will soon be developing a series of programs that will give more benefits to families together.
Q. How will you protect the confidentiality of such data?
The data is not in one place. We have basic information and the rest of the data is separated. So if the health department wants to use information, they only get access to the health-related information.
