Systemic UDID delays in Peren leave disabled families waiting months for welfare schemes, medical support and essential assistive devices
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DIMAPUR — By the time Kimkhohoi opens her shop in the morning, her daughter is usually already awake. Kerehunglungle lies on a bed pushed against the wall inside their small home in Jalukie town, Peren district.
Sometimes her arms stiffen suddenly. Sometimes her legs move involuntarily beneath the blanket. Her mother moves between attending customers and checking on her daughter every few minutes.
Inside an almirah in the room, a plastic file holds the documents Kimkhohoi keeps returning to—disability certificate, Aadhaar card, application papers. Everything needed for a Unique Disability ID (UDID) card, except the card itself.
Kerehunglungle is eight years old and has spastic quadriplegia cerebral palsy. Her disability certificate records 90% physical impairment affecting all four limbs.
Last September, with assistance from the Differently-Abled People’s Organisation (DAPO), Peren, Kimkhohoi applied for her daughter’s UDID card at Peren District Hospital (PDH). Eight months later, there has been no response.
“She needs a wheelchair,” Kimkhohoi said. “But without the UDID we cannot move forward.”
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The family had applied under the Assistance to Disabled Persons for Purchase/Fitting of Aids and Appliances (ADIP) scheme. But the process could not proceed without the UDID.
Kimkhohoi, a single mother, runs the small roadside shop to support both herself and her daughter. She also hopes to apply for other government schemes that may help with treatment and caregiving costs.
“For many government schemes and assistance programmes, they ask us to submit the UDID,” she said.
The UDID project, introduced by the government of India, was intended to create a central database for persons with disabilities (PwDs) and simplify access to welfare schemes, rehabilitation support, and concessions.
However, across Peren district, several families of persons with disabilities say they have spent months—and in some cases years—waiting for the cards to arrive.
In Ward 1 of Jalukie town, Nchayi Kuame applied for a UDID card in 2023 after being diagnosed with ‘post-encephalitis muscular weakness’ and assessed with 45% disability. The card never arrived.
By the time she returned to enquire again in 2025, the earlier receipt had been lost. She submitted a fresh application in September that year. As of May 2026, she is still waiting.
In Peren district, applications are processed only through the PDH in the district headquarters, around 15 kilometres from Jalukie town. Under the system, once a UDID is generated, it is dispatched to the address linked with the applicant’s Aadhaar card.
DAPO members said applicants from Jalukie are comparatively better placed to travel back and forth, but for many PwDs living in remote villages and other parts of the district, visiting the hospital often means spending money on transport and, in some cases, arranging overnight stays in Peren town if they do not have private vehicles.
At Veterinary colony in Jalukie town, 15-year-old Keligumbe Hairangbuing has also been waiting since July last year.
Keligumbe has bilateral sensorineural hearing loss, a condition involving hearing loss in both ears. His disability certificate records 70% disability, and his speech is also affected.
His father, Atuna Zeliang, said each enquiry at the hospital produced a different explanation. “Sometimes they say the website is down. Sometimes they say the staff members are not there,” he said.
Keligumbe studies in Class 9 at a private school in Jalukie. According to his father, keeping up academically has become increasingly difficult.
Atuna said he has also noticed his son becoming more withdrawn and self-conscious over time, which he believes may be linked to his hearing and speech impairment. “He does not mix with friends like before,” he said. “We are worried about his studies and also about him emotionally.”
People with bilateral sensorineural hearing loss can often be rehabilitated through hearing aids and, in some cases, cochlear implants.
Atuna said he wants to explore schemes and assistance programmes that could help his son access such support, but many central government schemes and concessions increasingly require a UDID.
The card is also increasingly being sought during disability-related educational registration and support processes, including under the Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE).
Members of DAPO said one of the major problems in Peren district is the absence of a dedicated UDID cell at the district hospital.
According to the organisation, staff already handling multiple responsibilities are also tasked with processing UDID applications. “As they have other duties, they do not get enough time to handle the process regularly,” a DAPO member said.
As a result, applicants say they are often left without clear information on whether their applications are pending, rejected, or stuck somewhere inside the system.
Further, a recently introduced disability certificate format may be contributing to delays, with older-format certificates reportedly being rejected during processing, the organisation said.
Combined with periodic technical failures affecting the portal, applicants often end up returning repeatedly to the hospital without resolution, DAPO members said.
The organisation said it had earlier proposed that operation of the UDID cell be outsourced either to DAPO or another designated body to improve efficiency, but no positive response was received from the district administration.
Meanwhile, Kimkhohoi said her daughter is growing bigger and carrying her has become increasingly difficult. “Without the UDID, I cannot get a wheelchair, so I’ll continue waiting or reapply if necessary,” she added.
(This report is facilitated by the LIC HFL Sarthak)