Is India’s biometric-based identity number for residents, the Aadhaar, is at all helping people access social schemes in a more suitable and transparent manner? Well that is a tough question to seek answers of. But for the mean time it doesn’t seems like it is happening well for the state and its residents.
It has been six months now that the state introduced the Aadhaar at the ration shops. It made it compulsory for the residents to register themselves on Aadhaar and then apply for rations at the various ration shops throughout the state. After the six months of Rajasthan introduced Aadhaar at ration shops, it is surprising that only 45% beneficiaries accessed food.
Nikhil Dey, an activist with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, “The government claimed in the Supreme Court that Aadhaar will make welfare delivery faster and remove corruption. But Department of Information Technology and Communication figures shows that Aadhaar’s untested biometric technology is not working well. In fact, it is adding to the hardship faced by people already facing hunger and starvation in drought-affected villages.”
Dey in a public hearing in the capital city Jaipur added: “We request the state government to make this data public so there can be an honest assessment of it.”
