Dear Editor,
The ambitious scheme of Aadhaar which includes capturing biometric data of an individual is imperative to plug leakages in various welfare schemes and to target their intended beneficiaries, but to make it mandatory for access to schemes is unwarranted. The government’s provisions to include it for the mid-day meal scheme and PDS system could have severe ramifications since authentication by Aadhaar require various complex systems to work simultaneously. In remote and rural areas, where Internet and electricity access is inadequate, this could leave children hungry and families with no food grains if authentication fails due to any technical glitches. In PDS, identity fraud is of less concern now since ‘quantity fraud’ is a bigger malaise which remains unaddressed by Aadhaar.
The government says there will be privacy and protection of Aadhaar details, but no transparent mechanism has been provided. Aadhaar may be the way forward to ensure that targets are met but it cannot be forced on people.
Preeti Sharma,
Sunderbani
