Rosamma Thomas | TNN | Mar 29, 2016, 11.01 PM IST
JAIPUR: Chief minister Vasundhara Raje, speaking at the state's first IT Day earlier this month, said, "In Rajasthan, IT tools are changing lives every day -- from the point-of-sales machines at ration shops to the delivery of pension."
The point-of-sale machines were introduced as part of the Public Distribution System to stem leakage and ensure greater efficiency. In reality, however, they appear to have become a pain. Those waiting in line for rations sometimes have to wait hours, as the machines go kaput in the absence of internet connectivity.
"The POS machine seeks a fingerprint match - with many ration-seekers being manual labourers, their fingerprints are not steady. The machine makes no allowance for that. The poor labourer might be told to return and bring someone else from the family. The whole process can take a long time, eating into the earnings of daily-wagers," says Mukesh Goswami, who travelled through the state as part of the Jawabdehi Yatra that crisscrossed all 33 districts of the state in 100 days, mobilizing public opinion for a law that will hold all government servants to account for their work.
Shishir Purohit, a researcher who also participated in the yatra, is at present compiling feedback from the people about the provision of government services. "Over 9,000 complaints were recorded during our yatra. At least 30% had to do with not receiving rations," he said, adding that often the people standing in line did not even know what took so long.
The POS machines depend on internet connectivity. As part of the process, it is mandatory that Aadhaar numbers of beneficiaries be fed into the system. Sometimes, the machine fails to identify the Aadhaar number.
A local daily reported soon after the machines were installed early this year that they were riven with problems. In Kothun village of Jaipur district, only about 20 people could receive rations in a day, after waiting for hours in queues. Seventy-five of 78 shops in the village had the machines, but instead of making things easier, they were in fact making rations that much harder to access.
Recently, fair price shop dealers in Jodhpur decided to return the machines. "In Ajmer, the POS machines had been made compulsory. Manual entries were no longer permitted. It was unbelievable, the anger," says activist Nikhil Dey, who too toured the state during the yatra.
Addressing a press conference at the conclusion of the Jawabdehi Yatra, Dey explained that the Rajasthan Sampark website was often misleading when it claimed that a grievance had been redressed. In one instance, the website showed that a man who complained of no water supply had been provided water. However, all the official concerned did was point him out to a source of water over one km from his house!
Purohit talked of a man seeking compensation after being diagnosed with silicosis. He was told he would get no compensation - only free treatment. This happened as the complaint was directed to the chief medical officer rather than the collector of the district. Anyone certified as a patient of silicosis is given compensation of Rs1 lakh by the state government.
Activists said the Sampark website also does not make provision for feedback from the public. "Once the official has made an entry saying the complaint has been redressed, the person who made the complaint cannot explain that the matter has not yet been resolved," says Goswami.
