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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | Aadhaar Of Injustice -Anjali Bhardwaj & Amrita Johri

Aadhaar Of Injustice -Anjali Bhardwaj & Amrita Johri

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published Published on Jan 11, 2018   modified Modified on Jan 11, 2018
-The Indian Express

Linking it to ration cards ends up denying poor their rightful entitlements

In September 2017, 11-year-old Santoshi, resident of Simdega district of Jharkhand, succumbed to starvation. According to her mother, she died “asking for rice, but there was not a single grain at home”. She was deprived of her subsidised ration as her family’s ration card was cancelled because it was not linked to Aadhaar. Marandi in Jharkhand met the same fate — he could not avail of his share of ration supplies since his Aadhaar Based Biometric Authentication (ABBA) failed. Similar cases of starvation deaths have been reported from other states too, including Shakina Ashfaq from Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh, who could not present herself at the ration shop for ABBA due to ill health.

When the Narendra Modi government came to power riding on the promise of fighting corruption and ensuring effective service delivery, it was assumed that it will put in place a strong anti-corruption and grievance redress framework to ensure that no one is denied their rightful entitlements. However, instead of operationalising anti-corruption legislation like the Lokpal or implementing the grievance redress and social audit provisions in various laws, the government has been pushing Aadhaar as the ultimate solution to corruption.

This is inexplicable as Aadhaar can, at best, tackle only identity fraud, where an individual colludes with the system to be included multiple times in the list of beneficiaries. This accounts for a tiny proportion of corruption. In programmes like the PDS, the major reason for corruption is quantity and quality fraud with ration shopkeepers refusing to give people their full share of rations or pilfering good quality foodgrain and replacing them with poor quality stock. Aadhaar can do nothing to tackle this corruption, which can only be eradicated through greater transparency and effective accountability measures.

There is overwhelming evidence to show that mandatory linking of Aadhaar to ration cards has led to large-scale exclusions from benefits guaranteed under the National Food Security Act. Those who are not enrolled in the Aadhaar database are unable to apply for ration cards. Even if someone has an Aadhaar number, but it is not “linked”, benefits are denied. Finally, in states like Jharkhand and Rajasthan where Point-of-Sale devices have been installed in fair price shops, if the biometrics of beneficiaries don’t match or the cardholder cannot be present in person, they are unable to access their entitlements.

Instead of recognising and rectifying the problem, the government has been brazenly labelling those who are excluded due to Aadhaar as “bogus”, proudly claiming as “savings” the funds saved from denying basic services to the most vulnerable.

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The Indian Express, 11 January, 2018, http://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aadhaar-of-injustice-linking-to-ration-cards-5019590/


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