2 Million People Deprived Of Ration Per Month Due To Aadhaar Related Problems: Report
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In the last one year, the government has been hell-bent on promoting Aadhaar and how it will be an enabler for a better public distribution system for the poor and also help them access other schemes. A new report that surfaced on Thursday proved exactly the opposite.

The “State of Aadhaar Report 2017-18” by IDinsight based in Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal shows that almost 2 million people have been deprived of ration under the Public Distribution System (PDS) due to factors related to the biometric identification system.

State capacity also has a bearing on the functioning of PDS, with wide variation between Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, said the report by IDinsight, a global development analytics firm working across India.


2 Million People Deprived Of Ration Due To Aadhaar

The report is the largest Aadhaar survey in India covering 2,947 rural households in 21 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal. The survey has been conducted from November 2017 to February 2018.

The report states: “0.8%, 2.2%, and 0.8% of PDS beneficiaries in rural Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, and West Bengal, respectively, are excluded from their entitlements due to Aadhaar-related factors. This extrapolates to 2 million individuals monthly.”

The overall exclusion due to both Aadhaar related and non-Aadhaar related issues from PDS in Rajasthan is 9.9%, whereas it is 1.1% in Andhra Pradesh. “PDS exclusion due to failure of the local administration, though small, should be taken very seriously by the concerned agencies,” Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which is mandated to issue Aadhaar, said in a statement, reports Moneylife.

“They should ensure that not a single beneficiary is denied. The Aadhaar Act and Government instructions provide for alternate means of identification for genuine beneficiaries who encounter problems in authentication,” he added.


The Logical Indian Take

Last year, reports came out that said that in some of Jharkhand’s some of most impoverished villages, people were being denied ration due to Aadhaar linkage issues. The plight of the people of Jharkhand first came out when eleven-year-old Santoshi Kumari from Jharkhand’s Simdega district died of starvation on September 28. She died as she went without food for eight days. Koyli Devi, Santoshi’s mother said that the family’s ration card had been cancelled as it wasn’t linked to their Aadhaar. Thus, they were unable to procure food. Premani Kunwar, another woman became a victim of Aadhaar soon after that.

Aadhaar is being forced down the throat of the Indian citizens under the shroud of welfare. It was introduced by the government for the protection of the poor and needy, but the most problems are faced by them. Activists and journalists are shocked and appalled that a person’s fundamental right to food is being denied because of a government policy.

A government is responsible for the welfare of the people of the country. What is frightening is that even after cases of deaths were brought in front of the public, such incidents keep on happening.

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Editor : The Logical Indian

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