John Eric Gomes | Jul 3, 2014, 12.43AM IST
The Goa government has been making the citizens life miserable by foisting all sorts of smart cards and schemes, some running concurrently. For example whilst enrollments was on for National Population Register (NPR) and Aadhaar cards, the government agencies got us to go in for smart card for Swarnajayanti Aarogya Bima Yojana (a medical insurance scheme for Goans). When I went to the power substation counter at Porvorim to record my particulars, there were non-Goan labourers getting themselves enrolled.
After I got my card and learnt that about the hospital empanelled for my area, I went there to check my entitlement. The receptionist had no clue. After waiting for about half an hour, she found out that it only entitles me for surgery up to a particular amount and that I would have to pay for outpatient and consultations.
The government has now been scrapped this badly planned scheme and promised a new one.
|
||||||
|
||||||
Let us examine the Aadhar and NPR schemes and smart cards. The NPR exercise commenced a few years ago. We had to go to the centre, for us luckily it was our Sainik Gymkhana hall where we could organize seating. After a long wait for my turn to come, the fingerprints, eye scan and particulars were recorder by an operator. The NPR involved officials coming to my residence for recording and confirming details.
All said and done, after about 6 months I got the smart card. Against my date of birth, place of birth was recorded as North Goa which was wrong. The card had a chip with details recorded, so I thought I would check whether these details were correctly entered in the chip. I went to the relevant government office and was told that the cards were made in Bangalore. The official said that all North Goa residents had this entry against date of birth.
The official also informed that there is no equipment available with them to read the information from the chip.
Coming to the Aadhaar card; the same contracted private organization was simultaneously recording for NPR late entries/those not recorded. Besides getting my enrollment done in Porvorim, I accompanied many people to get their information recorded in Panaji and Socorro. But there was absolutely no checking done.
Whatever details one filled in the given form or provided via an affidavit, in case the required proof wasn't available. Therefore many people exploited this loophole and even got Aadhaar cards without any verification. The positive aspect is that it helped the migrant labour and those who do not own a house or have a permanent residence to get ration cards, LPG connection, bank accounts and avail of government schemes. The same lacuna applies to the many smart cards issued which are not a smart thing to do if it leads to fraud and the government cannot monitor or check it!
Another example is the driving licence smart card. It is meant for checking a driver's details; however the traffic police do not have the relevant equipment read the card to verify the driver's history.
All in all, I feel there is too much duplication of effort, colossal wastage of funds and effort as it done without proper planning.
Prior to introducing any scheme, the authorities must hold wide ranging discussions with all stakeholders and formulate a proper system.
Any exercise involving the citizens and private agencies must take into account reliability and security, not to mention harassment of the busy citizen already burdened with making a living in very difficult circumstances, not to mention the price rise and non-availability of affordable essential commodities.
To require whole families to stand in line and keep repeating the same exercise is the height of government inefficiency. The Aadhaar scheme is surely a mess, unreliable and a security risk. There is no reason why it could not have been done simultaneously with the NPR at half the cost, double the reliability and convenience of the citizen. Being computerized, cross checking should have been comparatively easier. It must also take into account that fingerprints of many older people or labourers cannot be properly recorded by the equipment and reportedly retina verification may change with age.
All this boils down to lack of transparency and accountability of government agencies. Somehow it is always convenience of the government employees and their own welfare which takes priority with no accountability! There is urgent need for administrative reforms with pin pointing responsibility and deterrent consequences for dereliction of duty and loss to the exchequer.
The writer is a retired naval officer residing in Porvorim
