Govt slams states over slow progress in Aadhaar linking

NEW DELHI: Scores of students in government schools across the country may be deprived of midday meals if their states continue the slow progress in getting them enrolled under Aadhaar.

A number of states such as West Bengal have not shared any data with the HRD ministry while others like Uttar Pradesh and Mizoram have only managed to get 26% students enrolled under Aadhaar, with Nagaland having 15% enrolment, Delhi 79% and Bihar 63% (See box).

Concerned over the slow progress, the ministry has written to 16 states, asking them to expedite the process so that students continue to get midday meals. The last date for enrolment under Aadhaar is August 31. Earlier, the ministry had set June as the last date.

“The enrolment of children under Aadhaar would enable us to eliminate the proxy enrolment and provide benefits of the midday meal scheme to deserving children in a seamless manner,” reads the letter.

“Despite letters from the ministry to furnish a detailed action plan to complete 100% Aadhaar enrolment, no response from Delhi has been received.”

“I suggest the Aadhaar enrolment campaign be given an added thrust by the Government of Delhi in a time-bound manner and be monitored personally,” says the letter.

A Delhi government official said the scheme should not be linked to Aadhaar because it will lead to denial to those who don’t have a card.

“We would like 100% compliance for Aadhaar and are working on it. Aadhaar is desirable but to make it compulsory for a basic facility like midday meal is not something that we support. There are so many poor students getting free food due to the scheme and one cannot just stop the facility to them because they don’t have Aadhaar card,” said a Delhi government official.

In April, the ministry made the unique identification number mandatory for students to obtain midday meals. This evoked a strong criticism from activists, who claimed the move would result in many beneficiaries being excluded from the child nutrition scheme.

Gangadhar Sahoo, the state coordinator of the scheme, said Odisha has so far managed to get 78% of kids in the age-group of 5-18 years enrolled but only 28% of them have got Aadhaar numbers. “We expect to generate Aadhaar numbers by the end of July.”

Binod Kumar Singh, the director of Bihar midday meal scheme, said: “We have so far achieved 85% of the target. We want to finish it before the deadline. But it all depends on UIDAI required to make the cards.”

Most states in India share the financial burden for the scheme with the Centre, at 40:60 ratio. The ratio for northeastern states is 90:10, with the Centre paying the bulk of the funds.