No Aadhaar, rusty thumb lines make poor leave PDS door empty-handed
BHOPAL: On October 16, Lolli Mawasi, 90, a poor Mawasi tribal died allegedly due to starvation in village Tagarpar in Majhgawa block of Satna district.
His wife, Wilsiya, 80, said in her letter to the district collector that her husband, who was old and ill, died of hunger as the family did not get ration under the public distribution system (PDS) for the last three months and they did not have the money to buy food in the open market.
Ever since the central government made Aadhaar mandatory for availing subsidised foodgrains from the ration shops in February, reports reaching HT from across Madhya Pradesh indicate that many among the most vulnerable sections have been deprived as glitches in the network and problems with the biometric machines often fail to identify the recipients.
The need for the ration card holder’s Samagra ID has compounded the problem.
Beti Bai, 75, a Gond tribal from Magarghara village in Umaria district who cannot read or write, has not received ration for the past six months as she does not have the Aadhaar card. Nor has Molia Singh, 76, of Anganhuddi.
“Both now beg for food, and they are getting weaker by the day,” says Ajmatullah Khan, a social worker from the region.
“These are not isolated inci- dents, but a pattern is emerging in these rural areas. Many old people whose thumb lines have corroded after working as manual labourers do not get ration every month. They get it only when the biometric machine registers their thumb impression. Sometimes, when the link fails, then everyone suffers.” Khan said.
The situation of Gond tribals in Panna is similar. Chattarasal, a social worker, said: “Many of the poor tribals have Aadhaar but do not have Samagra IDs, due to which they are not getting ration for the last six months. Many of them have signed a joint affidavit and given it to the authorities.”
In Bhopal, too, the marginalised Pardhis are facing problems. In Kamla Nagar area, Jhabbu Bai, 65, said: “We get ration when my thumb impression matches. The ration is our right but we are at the mercy of the ration shop owners.”
Babulal Sahu, who works at the ration shop in the Kotra Sultanabad, said. “These are Chinamade machines. Often they don’t work. Our calls for repair remain unattended for days.”
Jyoti Shah, food controller, Bhopal, admitted to the glitches. “People want ration manually, but the government wants biometric identification to weed out corruption. We cannot change the system,” she said.
Food and civil supplies commissioner Vivek Porwal claimed Aadhar is not compulsory in rural areas. When pointed out specific instances, he said, “There are so many factors involved. I can’t comment without checking each case.”