- The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Aadhaar's principal goals were to end fraud and reach welfare to the poorest. But in practice it has achieved neither. The claimed elimination of bogus cards has been found to be exaggerated. On the other hand, the insistence on the Aadhaar Card has led to the brutal exclusion from welfare of the very poor and the homeless — for reasons such as...
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Following the grain trail: on India's public distribution system -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported. Biometric mix-ups Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By...
More »Aadhaar query on homeless -R Balaji
-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has stumped the Centre by wondering how it intends to issue Aadhaar Cards to innumerable homeless persons in the country in the absence of a residential identity. The court also wondered how the homeless could be given any national identity at all when they do not have any individual proof of residence. "A person who is homeless, how will you give an Aadhaar Card?" a bench...
More »Aadhaar Of Injustice -Anjali Bhardwaj & Amrita Johri
-The Indian Express Linking it to ration cards ends up denying poor their rightful entitlements In September 2017, 11-year-old Santoshi, resident of Simdega district of Jharkhand, succumbed to starvation. According to her mother, she died “asking for rice, but there was not a single grain at home”. She was deprived of her subsidised ration as her family’s ration card was cancelled because it was not linked to Aadhaar. Marandi in Jharkhand met...
More »If No Aadhaar, Does Person Not Exist For Government, Asks Supreme Court -A Vaidyanathan
-NDTV The Supreme Court court made the comments while hearing a case related not to Aadhaar, but to night-shelters for homeless people across the country in the deepening winter chill New Delhi: To the questions swirling around the Aadhaar or national identity cards, the Supreme Court today added a new one -- if a homeless person doesn't have it, will he not exist for the government? The court made the comments while...
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