The exclusive centres for women’s registration in various cities are encouraging them to apply for their Computerised National Identity Cards (CNICs) and helping the authorities to have more accurate data to facilitate policy makers in decision making.
The National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA) has established 14 such centres due to which a sharp increase in the registration of women has been observed. NADRA Deputy Chairman Tariq Malik on Monday said that around 80 percent of the country’s adult female population had been registered.
The basic objective of these centres was not only to enhance women’s registration in the most minimum possible time but also to facilitate them in getting and availing education, health, employment and other facilities including elections, he added.
He said the centres in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Sialkot, Mardan and other cities were already functional while the latest one had been inaugurated in Tala Gang. He said the Authority had also taken the initiative that all Fridays would be exclusively reserved for female registration in all the NADRA Swift Registration Centres (NSRCs) across the country to encourage women’s registration and make the process as comfortable as possible by not entertaining any men on that day.
Highlighting other efforts being taken, Malik said the Authority had also dedicated its mobile registration units across the country to the said cause. The deputy chairman said CNIC was an essential identity document which protected women’s rights. This was evident through the fact that for the first time in the country’s history, their rights were safeguarded when women in flood hit areas were issued “Watan Cards” as family heads by NADRA to obtain financial assistance, he said, adding that this also had no international precedent.
Answering a question, he said that the registration ratio recorded in some areas was very low and social norms, illiteracy, poverty and female mobility issues were the major factors behind the lack of awareness about the benefits of registration, but the dedicated centres for women would help resolve the issue. He said four non-governmental organisations were also working with NADRA in the targeted areas to encourage women to get registered at the earliest, adding that approximately 80 percent women had been registered in the country, 98 percent male adults had been registered and a total 95 percent of the adult population of the country had been registered. NADRA has so far issued around 88.37 million CNICs, he said.
