Aadhaar linking exposes 4.4 lakh ghost schoolkids

The 12-digit Aadhaar number has helped states strike off 4.4 lakh “ghost students” from schools across Jharkhand, Manipur and Andhra Pradesh, for whom the government had been earmarking funds under the mid-day meal scheme.

The government provides free lunch to students from class one to eight on working days under the mid-day meal scheme.

This month, the Union human resource development (HRD) ministry made the unique identification number mandatory for students to obtain mid-day meals. This evoked a strong reaction from activists, who claimed the move would result in many beneficiaries being excluded from the scheme.

However, data for 2015-16 and 2016-17 shared by the three states with the HRD ministry revealed that many government schools in the three states had been showing non-existent students on their rolls to claim additional funds from the mid-day meal scheme allocation.

For instance, Andhra Pradesh — which linked all its 29 lakh government school students to Aadhaar — had 2.1 lakh claimants who existed only on paper. Their enrolment was cancelled after the anomaly was brought to the government’s notice, an official said.

“We are still in the process of collating data from states, but available figures show fake enrolment of students in government schools. The number of fake students may go up further once all the states share data,” an HRD official said.

In Jharkhand, the names of 2.2 lakh non-existent students have been deleted from school records.

So far, 89% of the 48 lakh students enrolled in the state’s government schools have availed of Aadhaar numbers.

The number of ghost students discovered in Manipur schools stood at 1,500.

Most states in India share the financial burden for the mid-day meal scheme with the Centre at a 40:60 ratio.

The ratio for northeastern states is 90:10, with the Centre paying the bulk of the funds.