By Ambika Pandit, TNN | Dec 10, 2012, 01.10 AM IST
NEW DELHI: Sushma emerged from a dingy room at the end of a dark corridor of a building crowded with families of daily labourers in Indira Col8ony in IP Extension area, east Delhi. She reveals a bank passbook from a carefully wrapped plastic pouch. The passbook bears her name. Identified as a beneficiary of the Delhi government's ambitious "Cash for Food" programme "Annshri Yojana" Sushma now has a no-frills account to receive the Rs 600 cash subsidy for her family. But the account has no value for now as she has been denied enrolment for a UID Aadhaar number in the absence of an identity proof. The UID is a must to get the benefit of the scheme.
The scheme will turn functional on the ground on December 15 in the presence of UPA chairperson and Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Its launch comes at a critical juncture with just a year left for the Delhi assembly polls.
Case studies from Indira Colony, an area with a high density of families who do not hold BPL or Antyodaya ration cards, show that people know little or nothing about the scheme but are eager to jump onto the "Annshri bandwagon".
Even as the government harps on the cash subsidy as an attempt to ensure food security, most beneficiaries see the subsidy as a saving for needs that go beyond food. 60-year-old Shanti Devi said the Rs 600 can be saved by families for the marriage of their daughter, school fees of children and medical expenses. Food was the last thing on her mind and she admitted that subsidized rations has its advantages and cater to the food requirements of the family. For Shanti too lack of an identity proof is coming in the way of her UID enrollment. "Humein to koi pehchann chahiye (I just want an identity?)," she said.
Sushma elaborates on her Annshri experience. She comes from Moradabad has no photo ID proof to get a UID registration. There are many like her who have been identified as beneficiaries but their hopes of getting benefit of the scheme appear distant. Under the scheme the bank account where the monthly cash subsidy will be released has to be in the name of lady of the house. Ironically, in Sushma's case her husband Babu Lal has been issued a UID number as he has a voter ID card. There are many more like Sushma in this colony, who despite being verified by the GRC coordinators as per the state government's directive were refused enrollment for Aadhaar for UID at a station set up at the east district level by the UIDAI, revealed the community mobilizers working here.
Mission Convergence director Santosh Vaidya said the programme coordinators in the 140 NGO-run Gender Resource Centres, who are in charge of reaching out to beneficiaries, have been authorized to act as verifiers to enable registration under UID for all such cases where identity proof is not available. These cases only reveal that awareness on enrollment process under Annshri needs to be enhanced and there is need for better coordination between the state and the UIDAI.
Starting December 15, the lady of the house - wife, mother, eldest daughter or daughter-in-law -- from families enrolled under the Delhi government's flagship food security program "Dilli Annshri Yojana" will be able to withdraw a monthly Rs 600 food subsidy from their very own no frills bank account. Their fool proof identification as a beneficiary will come from their biometric imprints generated as part of the "Aadhar Unique Identity" introduced as a mandatory provision to prevent duplication under the scheme.
Under the ongoing enrollment process the government has to enroll all 4.87 lakh beneficiaries by March 31, 2013. They have been identified as a per a 2009 state survey of vulnerable households. The enrollment was officially launched on Gandhi Jayanti on October 2, is critical for both the Delhi CM who is gearing up to seek a fourth term in power next year and the Congress at the Centre which will face the voters for a third term in the parliamentary polls% in 2014.
