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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | There is an urgent need for safeguards against unfair discontinuation of social benefits -Jean Drèze

There is an urgent need for safeguards against unfair discontinuation of social benefits -Jean Drèze

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published Published on Apr 20, 2021   modified Modified on Apr 20, 2021

-The Indian Express

Temporary denial of food rations is one thing, cancellation of ration cards is far more serious. How many cards have been cancelled for lack of Aadhaar linkage? No one really knows.

The Covid crisis has enhanced the dependence of poor people on social security schemes such as the public distribution system (PDS). Many of them, unfortunately, continue to have difficulties in accessing these schemes due to Aadhaar-related problems.

Startling findings on Aadhaar-related denial of foodgrain rations were reported a few days ago by Shreyas Sardesai, based on a recent Lokniti-CSDS survey (‘When Aadhaar related problems lead to denial of rations and benefits’, IE, April 17). The survey, conducted in 2019, covered more than 12,000 electors across the country. Those who had a ration card (about four-fifths of all respondents) were asked whether it had ever happened that they were deprived of their foodgrain rations for lack of Aadhaar, or due to other Aadhaar-related problems such as biometric authentication glitches or failure to link their ration card with Aadhaar. The proportion of affirmative responses was as high as 28 per cent at the all-India level, rising to 39 per cent among low-income households and 40 per cent in the erstwhile BIMARU states.

The fact that Aadhaar-related problems often lead to denial of food rations from PDS is well known. What is new here is that they have affected so many people. This may seem puzzling, because most people have an Aadhaar card, and biometric authentication failures also tend to affect a relatively small proportion of PDS users. How, then, does one explain these staggering figures?

One plausible answer is that they reflect widespread use of the “ultimatum method” to enforce the mandatory linking of ration cards with Aadhaar. This consists of setting a deadline for Aadhaar linking, and then telling people that unless they meet the deadline their benefits — in this case food rations — will be suspended. This method has been widely applied in many states to link Aadhaar not only with ration cards but also with job cards, social security pensions, bank accounts, PAN cards, and so on. It is used mainly on poor people — the middle class tends to get softer treatment.

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The Indian Express, 20 April, 2021, https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/aadhaar-linking-public-welfare-schemes-pds-system-7280621/


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