The Delhi Commission for Protection of Child Rights has requested UIDAI to ensure that lakhs of street children in the city get their unique identity number so that they can benefit from various welfare schemes.

In a letter to Unique Identification Authority of India chief Nandan Nilekani, DCPCR chief Amod Kanth has said in absence of proper identity, homeless and street children often do not get benefits of welfare schemes and providing AADHAR identity numbers would help them get various entitlements.

He said out of the total homeless people in the city, 25 to 45 per cent could be children below 18 years of age and they often remain "outside the safety net".

The DCPCR chief said enumeration and identification of the deprived children, whose number could not be less than five lakh, is the primary responsibility of the city government.

"The children do have a right to identity and nationality under the United Nation Convention on the Rights of Child (UNCRC)," he said in the letter.

The Commission also offered to provide its full cooperation in identifying the homeless and deprived children.

Earlier this month, Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit had distributed "beghar" cards and provisional Unique Identification Numbers to the homeless people in the city.

Biometric-based data including fingerprints and an iris scan is being used for the first time by UIDAI to provide a cost-effective nationally valid and verifiable single source of identity proof.