Gulmi, Sept. 7 -- four-year-old Tika Bahadur Rayamajhi leaned on his crutch as he waited outside the District Administration Office in Gulmi on Wednesday afternoon. A resident of ward 2 in Isma Rural Municipality, Rayamajhi struggles to walk, let alone ride or get off a vehicle without someone's help. Yet here he was, standing in a long queue because the government has made the National identity card mandatory to access social security allowances.

"Without this card, they say we won't get our allowance. I had no choice but to come, even though it's very difficult at this age. Life itself is hard, and now they've added more trouble," Rayamajhi said, visibly tired.

The septuagenarian, who is also a fire victim from last year's inferno in ...