Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 73
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
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 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
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deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 73
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
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Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
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Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Deprecated (16384): The ArrayAccess methods will be removed in 4.0.0.Use getParam(), getData() and getQuery() instead. - /home/brlfuser/public_html/src/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line: 74
 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php. [CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311]
Code Context


        trigger_error($message, E_USER_DEPRECATED);

    }
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 You can disable deprecation warnings by setting `Error.errorLevel` to `E_ALL & ~E_USER_DEPRECATED` in your config/app.php.'
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deprecationWarning - CORE/src/Core/functions.php, line 311
Cake\Http\ServerRequest::offsetGet() - CORE/src/Http/ServerRequest.php, line 2421
App\Controller\ArtileDetailController::printArticle() - APP/Controller/ArtileDetailController.php, line 74
Cake\Controller\Controller::invokeAction() - CORE/src/Controller/Controller.php, line 610
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::_invoke() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 120
Cake\Http\ActionDispatcher::dispatch() - CORE/src/Http/ActionDispatcher.php, line 94
Cake\Http\BaseApplication::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/BaseApplication.php, line 235
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\RoutingMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/RoutingMiddleware.php, line 162
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Routing\Middleware\AssetMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Routing/Middleware/AssetMiddleware.php, line 88
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Error\Middleware\ErrorHandlerMiddleware::__invoke() - CORE/src/Error/Middleware/ErrorHandlerMiddleware.php, line 96
Cake\Http\Runner::__invoke() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 65
Cake\Http\Runner::run() - CORE/src/Http/Runner.php, line 51
Cake\Http\Server::run() - CORE/src/Http/Server.php, line 98

Warning (512): Unable to emit headers. Headers sent in file=/home/brlfuser/public_html/vendor/cakephp/cakephp/src/Error/Debugger.php line=853 [CORE/src/Http/ResponseEmitter.php, line 48]
Code Context
            if (Configure::read('debug')) {

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    <link rel="canonical" href="https://im4change.in/<pre class="cake-error"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-trace').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-trace').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none');"><b>Notice</b> (8)</a>: Undefined variable: urlPrefix [<b>APP/Template/Layout/printlayout.ctp</b>, line <b>8</b>]<div id="cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-trace" class="cake-stack-trace" style="display: none;"><a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-code').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-code').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Code</a> <a href="javascript:void(0);" onclick="document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-context').style.display = (document.getElementById('cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-context').style.display == 'none' ? '' : 'none')">Context</a><pre id="cakeErr67f09cfdf1c1f-code" class="cake-code-dump" style="display: none;"><code><span style="color: #000000"><span style="color: #0000BB"></span><span style="color: #007700">&lt;</span><span style="color: #0000BB">head</span><span style="color: #007700">&gt;
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna..."/>
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                <strong>For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha</strong></h1>
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                <div align="justify">-TheWire.in<br /><br /><em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br /><br />Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br />The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br /><br />Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br /><br />Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br /><br />Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br /><br />Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br /><br />The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br /><br />Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br /><br />V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br /><br />Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/" title="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br /></div>               </font>
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		&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha&#039;,
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
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Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna..."/>
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                <strong>For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha</strong></h1>
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                <div align="justify">-TheWire.in<br /><br /><em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br /><br />Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br />The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br /><br />Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br /><br />Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br /><br />Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br /><br />Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br /><br />The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br /><br />Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br /><br />V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br /><br />Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/" title="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br /></div>               </font>
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;,
	&#039;disp&#039; =&gt; &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;,
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	&#039;title&#039; =&gt; &#039;For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha&#039;,
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-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;
&lt;br /&gt;
Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...&#039;
$disp = &#039;&lt;div align=&quot;justify&quot;&gt;-TheWire.in&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;em&gt;Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &amp;lsquo;disabled&amp;rsquo; by the state health department.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Vijayawada/ Guntur: &lt;/em&gt;Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &amp;ldquo;anesthetic fingers&amp;rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&amp;ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &amp;ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&amp;rdquo; she said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &amp;ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&amp;rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&amp;rsquo;s family &amp;ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &amp;ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &amp;ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&amp;rdquo; Ramadevi said.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &amp;ldquo;undetectable&amp;rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &amp;ldquo;They said that they can&amp;rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&amp;rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &amp;ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &amp;ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&amp;rdquo;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&amp;rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &amp;ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&amp;rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;Please &lt;a href=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot; title=&quot;https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/&quot;&gt;click here&lt;/a&gt; to read more. &lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&#039;
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Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.

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                <strong>For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha</strong></h1>
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                <div align="justify">-TheWire.in<br /><br /><em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br /><br />Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br />The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br /><br />Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br /><br />Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br /><br />Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br /><br />Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br /><br />The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br /><br />Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br /><br />V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br /><br />Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/" title="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br /></div>               </font>
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		'title' => 'For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha',
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-TheWire.in<br />
<br />
<em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br />
<br />
Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br />
<br />
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br />
<br />
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br />
<br />
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br />
<br />
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br />
<br />
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br />
<br />
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br />
<br />
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br />
<br />
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br />
<br />
Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br />
</div>',
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...',
	'disp' => '<div align="justify">-TheWire.in<br /><br /><em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br /><br />Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br />The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br /><br />Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br /><br />Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br /><br />Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br /><br />Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br /><br />The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br /><br />Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br /><br />V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br /><br />Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/" title="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br /></div>',
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-TheWire.in<br />
<br />
<em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br />
<br />
Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br />
<br />
&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br />
<br />
The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br />
<br />
Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br />
<br />
Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br />
<br />
Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br />
<br />
Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br />
<br />
The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br />
<br />
Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br />
<br />
V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br />
<br />
Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br />
</div>',
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-TheWire.in

Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.

Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna...'
$disp = '<div align="justify">-TheWire.in<br /><br /><em>Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as &lsquo;disabled&rsquo; by the state health department.<br /><br />Vijayawada/ Guntur: </em>Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her &ldquo;anesthetic fingers&rdquo; would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs.<br /><br />&ldquo;Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,&rdquo; Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. &ldquo;Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,&rdquo; she said.<br /><br />The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: &ldquo;no ration without biometric authentication&rdquo;. This, for Ramadevi&rsquo;s family &ndash; which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son &ndash; means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. &ldquo;In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,&rdquo; Ramadevi said.<br /><br />Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints.<br /><br />Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris.<br /><br />Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris &ldquo;undetectable&rdquo; on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. &ldquo;They said that they can&rsquo;t identify me on the (biometric) system.&rdquo; Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months.<br /><br />Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets &ndash; first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, &ldquo;I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help&rdquo;.<br /><br />The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community&rsquo;s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements.<br /><br />Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community.<br /><br />V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. &ldquo;There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,&rdquo; Chandrashekar explains.<br /><br />Please <a href="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/" title="https://thewire.in/208097/hundreds-leprosy-patients-andhra-pradesh-aadhaar-stumbling-block-availing-monthly-rations/">click here</a> to read more. <br /></div>'
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For Hundreds of Leprosy Patients in Andhra, Aadhaar a Stumbling Block in Availing Monthly Rations -Sukanya Shantha

-TheWire.in Even with apparent deformities to their bodies, many leprosy-affected individuals are not recognised as ‘disabled’ by the state health department. Vijayawada/ Guntur: Kodavalli Ramadevi avoids visiting the fair price shop in Godugu Vari Gudem village at Nuzwid mandal in the Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh at the beginning of the month to collect her rations. She waits for at least ten days every month, just to ensure that everyone in the village has already availed their share of Public Distribution System (PDS) rice so she can escape the anxiety and humiliation. Anxiety of whether her “anesthetic fingers” would be detected on the biometric system in the rationing offices and the humiliation of exposing her mangled limbs in public. Ramadevi suffers from grade II type leprosy which has severely affected her sensory nerves, causing ulceration and mutilation of her limbs. “Last month, I did not get the five kg rice I am entitled to,” Ramadevi told The Wire. In December, after briskly rubbing her fingers and palms for nearly two hours to ensure some blood had flown through her otherwise numb fingers, only one finger got authenticated on the biometric system, which was enough. “Since I do not have any sensation on my fingers, I later noticed my palms had developed lesions because of the rigorous rubbing,” she said. The compulsory seeding of biometrics with the ration card began as early as 2015 in Andhra Pradesh. Local PDS dealers and block supply officers have been given strict instructions: “no ration without biometric authentication”. This, for Ramadevi’s family – which includes her husband, a daily wage earner at a nearby bakery, and a teenage son – means erratic access to the five kg of rice and one kg of sugar. “In the past year, I have missed out on ration at least five times because the system did not detect my fingerprints,” Ramadevi said. Ramadevi is not alone; hundreds of leprosy patients in the state go through this process month after month and each time, it is a game of chance, a gamble almost, whether the machines will recognise their fingerprints. Leprosy, a chronic and progressive bacterial infection, if not treated on time, can cause severe disfigurement and significant disability. It takes between seven to 25 years before the symptoms appear. Besides the limbs, it also adversely affects the respiratory tract and the iris. Seventy-year-old Ann Saguna was shocked when the biometric system rejected her iris scan last month. The disease had already swallowed her fingers and toes over five decades ago. But now, with age, she has also been hit by one of the most commonly experienced ocular manifestations of leprosy which leads to chalk-particle like glistening lesions near the pupillary margin. This condition has made her iris “undetectable” on the iris reader of the biometric system. In November, when Saguna went to the ration shop near where she lives in Vijayawada, she was turned back. “They said that they can’t identify me on the (biometric) system.” Saguna has not received rice and sugar for the last two months. Saguna is an inmate at the Grace Leprosy colony which was built in 1970 on the outskirts of the city, right opposite the Vijayawada airport. She was still in her teens when she had walked out of her house owing to her illness. Since then, she has been begging for alms on the streets – first in Hyderabad and now in Vijayawada. Now old and frail, she said, “I can no longer travel to the city which is 24 km away from here. On days when I do, I make around Rs 40-50. But those days are rare. Rest of the days, I live in the colony, hoping for help”. The monthly ration is her only source of food. She gets a government pension. However, according to Alladi Chandrashekar, a colony inmate and the secretary of the Andhra Pradesh Society of Leprosy Affected People (AP-SLAP), availing both ration and pension need biometric authentication of fingers or at least iris recognition. The organisation, established in 2005 by the affected persons has played an important role in raising the public profile of the community’s issues and carrying out sustained advocacy efforts with the state government to ensure they are not deprived of their legal entitlements. Apart from social stigma and daily rejections, discrepancies in the implementation of government schemes add to the troubles of the 39 families living in Grace. AP-SLAP has been documenting similar stories of deprivation, denials and delayed access to legal entitlements from all 54 leprosy colonies of Andhra Pradesh which house approximately 1600 leprosy affected persons and their families. Another 2000 affected persons live within the community. V. Narsappa, president of Association of Persons Affected by Leprosy (APAL), said at least one in four persons in the state is finding it difficult to avail their legal entitlements. Others too live under similar fear. “There is no guarantee when leprosy-affected fingers and iris will suddenly stop being detected on the biometric machines,” Chandrashekar explains. Please click here to read more.