100-Year-Old Woman Gets First ID Proof

100-Year-Old Woman Noorjahan of Gorakhpur, UP finally got her Aadhaar card. And it was about time, too, considering that she is 100 years old.

The centenarian was helped by a local journalist and a child activist, reported HT.

The poor widow lives in Alinagar locality in a temporary shed outside her daughter's house. The old woman was all smiles after she held her ID card for the first time.

Why she is happy

Aadhaar will now help Noorjahan get her widow pension. She will also get monthly ration from a fair price shop.

Noorjahan had not been able to avail these benefits so far as she was devoid of an ID proof.

Who helped her?

Two local youths Ranjeet Yadav, a journalist, and Mitra Prakash, a child activist, helped the old lady tremendously. They took the widow to an Aadhaar registration office to get her the ID proof after which she could apply for widow pension.

She got her Aadhaar card on June 21. She ran out of her shed with happiness showing the card to neighbours. The lady yelled, "You all were saying that it couldn’t be made, See it has been made.”

How her plight came to light

Yadav and Prakash spotted the old lady about a month ago. They saw her sitting in Jublee area where she was being offered coins by passers-by.

The duo said, “She told us that she had been living in abject poverty and depended on alms. Due to poor financial condition, the last rites of her rickshaw puller husband Rajab Khan and two sons Khaliq and Sadiq, (both dying young of encephalitis) were performed with money collected through funding. She does not want the same thing to happen to her when she dies."

Her youngest son Qadir earns only Rs 200 per day.

In a report by HT, they added,  "Her ordeal shook us and we decided to ensure her some monetary help through widow pension. But the problem was that she did not have a single document. So we got her Aadhaar card made.”

The problems

Due to her old age, the biometric machine used to scan finger prints failed to take her prints.

"Then we got a letter issued by the local corporator saying he knew her. Through this letter, the Aadhaar was made without finger scanning,” Ranjeet said.

They then gave an application to make her eligible for widow pension to DM Vijyendra Pandian. The official ordered both pension as well as ration card for her. He said that he could also arrange for her to stay in an old age home if needed.

Kriti Dwivedi is an intern with SheThePeople.Tv