 "7.46 lakh unregistered citizens granted permits in China")
China has provided about 7.46 lakh unregistered citizens with registration permits that would entitle them to social welfare benefits like medical insurance and basic education.
About 7,46,000 people have been provided with the crucial registration permits in the first five months of this year, according to the Ministry of Public Security.
In China, various social benefits such as medical insurance and access to basic education are based on permits known as "hukou" and are supposed to be in line with long-term places of work and residence.
Previously, "hukou" was given only at their native places and people could avail benefits only in the places where it is granted. The move to register unregistered citizens, which are estimated at 13 million, or 1% of the entire population, was announced in December.
Between January and May, more than 1.09 million unregistered people were confirmed, the ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
They include orphans and second children born illegally under the one-child policy, the homeless and those who have yet to apply for one or who have simply lost theirs, state-run Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday.
Parents who violated family planning policy often refrained from getting "hukou" for their children in order to avoid fines. From the beginning of this year China permitted couples to have two children.
The ministry also said that police across the country have confiscated three million duplicated hukou and more than 1.7 million IDs that have duplicated numbers.
It said last year that some of the duplications were honest mistakes from manual errors or separated police management systems in the past, but others were the result of police officers illegally using professional privilege to seek benefits for their connections.
