Riyan Ramanath V, TNN | Jul 10, 2011, 12.24AM IST
BALANGIR: Chaos reigned supreme over the Unique Identification Card (UID) data procurement process in Balangir, with poor people queuing up eagerly hoping to be doled out more rations and old age pensions, only to be disappointed and irritated at the painstaking process of collecting their photographs, eye and thumb impressions.
Even as BPL families left spaces meant for filling up PAN card number, DL, LPG card number, pension ID, health insurance number, etc., blank in the UID forms, they remained clueless about the purpose of the UID, trekking to the centres where the enumeration process for the multi-utility UID document is on, with the idea that they will be given immediate rewards like more rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS) or immediate jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Needless to say, the places were scenes of total chaos as villagers were seen losing their patience. Thay failed to understand the entire exercise and had little idea what the UID card is all about.
Unlettered people like 55-year-old Laibani Suna, apart, who pushed her way through the queue of people waiting to be photographed and raised her voice about the delay in getting her old age pension, even school teachers engaged in the data procurement process in the capacity of enumerators, had little knowledge of the use of UID cards.
While Laibani complained "the municipality councilor in our ward told me to come here to get old age pension but here no one is paying any attention to me", enumerator Gitanjali Mishra said she doesn't know much about the UID card and therefore finds it hard to educate people. "People have preconceived ideas that some immediate benefits will be doled out here. And technically we don't have that much idea to erase the wrong impression of people from their minds," Gitanjali said.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched the ambitious UID smart card project in 2009 in a bid to help citizens, especially poor people, to procure a single document that can serve the purpose of a PAN card, voter's I card, driving license, ration card, employment card, debit and credit card.
Last month the authorities were left red faced when the particulars of many who received the card in Orissa were misspelt in the Oriya language.
Even as BPL families left spaces meant for filling up PAN card number, DL, LPG card number, pension ID, health insurance number, etc., blank in the UID forms, they remained clueless about the purpose of the UID, trekking to the centres where the enumeration process for the multi-utility UID document is on, with the idea that they will be given immediate rewards like more rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS) or immediate jobs under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
Needless to say, the places were scenes of total chaos as villagers were seen losing their patience. Thay failed to understand the entire exercise and had little idea what the UID card is all about.
Unlettered people like 55-year-old Laibani Suna, apart, who pushed her way through the queue of people waiting to be photographed and raised her voice about the delay in getting her old age pension, even school teachers engaged in the data procurement process in the capacity of enumerators, had little knowledge of the use of UID cards.
While Laibani complained "the municipality councilor in our ward told me to come here to get old age pension but here no one is paying any attention to me", enumerator Gitanjali Mishra said she doesn't know much about the UID card and therefore finds it hard to educate people. "People have preconceived ideas that some immediate benefits will be doled out here. And technically we don't have that much idea to erase the wrong impression of people from their minds," Gitanjali said.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) launched the ambitious UID smart card project in 2009 in a bid to help citizens, especially poor people, to procure a single document that can serve the purpose of a PAN card, voter's I card, driving license, ration card, employment card, debit and credit card.
Last month the authorities were left red faced when the particulars of many who received the card in Orissa were misspelt in the Oriya language.
