The government will make it mandatory from next month that if a missing child is found, he or she will be issued an Aadhaar card before being let in a care home to ensure faster rehabilitation, a move that broadens the use of the contentious 12-digit unique identification number.

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The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) will issue directives to child welfare committees and child care institutions in this regard.

Last month, a 15-year-old girl was found in Chhattisgarh and was eventually moved to a child care home in Delhi. However, even after her family was traced, the girl was not handed over to it because the child welfare committee did not have the girl's details. After a complaint was made to the NCPCR, the child will now be released.

"During video-conference sessions that we conducted between July 17 and July 21, over 28 state units said that they did not have concrete information about which states the missing children belonged to," NCPCR member Yashwant Jain said.

"With Aadhaar, it will be easy to send the children back to their states, as there have been success cases," NCPCR member Yashwant Jain said.

The NCPCR had earlier issued directives to state units to ensure Aadhaar use to access state benefits, but it was not mandatory.

The linking of Aadhaar with Permanent Account Number (PAN) is already mandatory for filing Income-Tax returns, and for any bank transaction over Rs 50,000. The number is also mandatory for availing of some welfare schemes.

The NCPCR will now hold a roundtable on September 20 to discuss the issue with all stakeholders, including the Centre, state units, police and non-governmental organisations.

"We will issue standard operating procedures, and the state child protection units will be responsible to ensure that Aadhaar cards are issued," said Jain.

Along with Aadhaar cards, an inventory of all missing children will also be made, with information on where they were found, places they belong to and their identification details. As per data furnished by the Union Home Ministry, there were over 62,988 cases of missing children in 2015, nearly a 50% rise from 32,244 cases in 2013.

In its roundtable on September 20, the NCPCR will also ask the Ministry of Women And Child Development to ensure that NGOs working for missing children be enumerated with a prize money — not on a per child basis, but keeping in mind their overall work. "Some of these homes tend to keep children longer because of the money involved," said Jain. Another issue to come up for discussion is giving out some incentives to policemen who help relocate children.

Critics say the Aadhaar identity card links enough data to create a comprehensive profile of citizens and the data — containing fingerprints, iris scans, and demographic information — can be misused. The Supreme Court has heard petitions on the issue and reserved its judgment.

Aadhaar was started seven years ago to streamline payment of benefits and cut down on massive wastage and fraud. About 95.10 per cent of India's population has voluntarily registered for it. The Centre has extended its Aadhaar enrolment deadline from June 30 to September 30.