Indian children WITHOUT Aadhaar digital ID shut OUT of school

… denied admission at a local school because they do not have Aadhaar, the biometric identity card issued by the Indian government

… tens of millions of poor children who risk exclusion from school

… India introduced Aadhaar in 2009 to streamline welfare payments

… it has become mandatory for everything from accessing welfare benefits to filing taxes

… millions of Indians do not have Aadhaar, including large numbers of homeless

… India’s Supreme Court ruled in 2014 that Aadhaar should not be a requirement for welfare programmes

… in 2018 reined in a government push to make it compulsory for everything from receiving pensions to registering mobile SIM cards

… “it continues to happen,”

… free food to pregnant women and poor children up to the age of six will start demanding Aadhaar

… Nearly 80 million children benefit from the food programme

… Less than a quarter of children below the age of five has an Aadhaar ID

…  concerns about the privacy … and the misuse of data for surveillance

… requirements for the ID means that Indians without Aadhaar are being deprived of their rights, from medication to schooling

… “the child is denied an education, and ceases to exist in the eyes of the state”