The Supreme Court was informed on Monday that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was willing to issue Aadhaar cards to sex workers without requiring proof of residence or identity if they obtained a certificate from a gazetted officer of the State health departments or a National AIDS Control Organization official (NACO).
The idea was made in a petition before a Bench of Justices L. Nageswara Rao and B.R. Gavai, who were concerned about the lack of nutritional security for lakhs of sex workers across the country, particularly during the pandemic years.
The court has been debating how authorities and community-based organizations could reach out to sex workers and supply them with ration cards, voter cards, and Aadhaar cards without disclosing their names. Even when it comes to food security, sex workers still face social stigma.
UIDAI advocate said having Aadhar is a legal obligation
For the UIDAI, advocate Zoheb Hossain argued that it was a legal obligation to ensure that people who did not have an Aadhaar card did not lose access to essential rights like food. Aadhaar is required for every essential commodity like Bank account, ration card, availing ration, and many more.
Personal information, including their identities, would have to be kept private, according to Justice Rao. ‘How about Bill?’ says the narrator. The court questioned the government about a bill it planned to bring in Parliament to combat human trafficking and rehabilitate sex workers. “Has anything happened with Bill?” Additional Solicitor Generals come and go, but the Bill hasn’t moved forward,” Justice Rao said to Additional Solicitor General Jayant K. Sud. Aadhaar aadhaar
After the NACO and community-based organizations’ lists were verified, the court ordered that state governments make efforts to distribute voter cards to sex workers recognized by NACO and community-based organizations.
According to the court, state governments should continue to provide dry rations to sex workers without requiring them to reveal their identities. The court noted the data in the status reports given by various states about the identification of sex workers and the distribution of ration cards to them were “not reasonable.”
West Bengal has already taken a step ahead
In the case of West Bengal, the court stated that 6,227 sex workers had been identified thus far. “States with populations lower than yours estimate the number of sex workers to be between 80,000 and one lakh… And you’ve only been able to find 6,227 of them? “We’re talking about identifying them in order to provide them with rations for survival,” Justice Rao said to West Bengal lawyer Raghenth Basant.
He pointed out that Tamil Nadu had identified over 87,000 sex workers and issued ration cards to over 86,000 of them. Even the red light area in Kolkata, according to amicus curiae counsel Pijush K. Roy, may have over 6,000 workers.
Mr. Basant claimed that sex workers who did not have ration cards were given special meal coupons. Until June 30, 2022, the tickets would entitle you to five kg of free dry food. The government has already implemented a digital ration card system. With the aid of NACO and community-based organizations, immediate steps will be taken to identify more sex workers and provide them with food security.
Maharashtra, too, was brought into the spotlight by the court. According to Maharashtra lawyer Sachin Patil, the authorities have identified almost 27,000 sex workers so far, with 15,655 of them receiving ration cards. The court ordered the States to provide new status reports in three weeks and set a month for the next hearing.