By Sowmya Aji, ET Bureau | 15 May, 2016, 02.51PM IST
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Pix by Lina Banerjee
Tribals being photographed for Aadhar
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Biligirirangana Betta (BR Hills), Karnataka
A three-member team lumbers in, into the overpowering forest of Biligirirangana Betta (BR Hills), carrying between them a laptop, a white screen, equipment to take fingerprints and iris screenshots and power backup. They are in search of tribals, who have to be registered, if the ambitious Aadhaar project has to achieve 100% coverage. The team's job is far from easy and fraught with danger. The forest trails are crossed by wild elephants. They ride on two-wheelers, lugging all their equipment, as four-wheelers cannot go down those narrow trails.
The scanning machine needs power and, in the middle of thick vegetation and hilly terrain, they have to figure out a way to uplink to the Aadhaar database. "We are wary about taking the battery power backup, as the woods are very dry due to lack of rains. Any small spark can cause a forest fire. We are charging two laptops that are mobile Aadhaar units and taking them into the tribal podis (hamlets)," TM Ramprasad Thagadur, 30, Aadhaar coordinator in Karnataka's backward Chamarajanagar district, tells et Magazine.
Out on a Quest
Security is a concern with these mobile units, but the laptops and the Aadhaar data registered in them can be accessed only with the fingerprint of the operator. Once a laptop was stolen from Gundlupet and, along with it, all the data stored in it was gone. "We went back and did the registrations all over again. There is no fear that the data will be misused, because no one can access it.
That is the kind of security we have for Aadhaar," says Thagadur. Thagadur and his indefatigable team are the answer to the question that was asked to Infosys cofounder Nandan Nilekani in 2009, when he set up the Aadhaar project: how are you going to ensure last-mile coverage of India's tribal populations? He no longer heads the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI ), but the administration has to tackle it, with Aadhaar crossing the billion mark a month ago. "It is my social responsibility to ensure that the tribals are covered," says HL Prabhakar, project manager, Karnataka Resident Data Hub, under the state's Centre for eGovernance. He is in charge of ensuring that every citizen in Karnataka — including children — is covered under Aadhaar. The state is lagging behind in registration, ranked a poor 18th on the national stage. Centre for eGovernance chief executive Rathan U Kelkar has set a target of September to cover at least 95% of the state's 6 crore population.
"We are pulling out all the stops," says Thagadur, sitting in a community hall in Yerakanagadde podi (tribal hamlet), constructed by the state government's department of tribal welfare. He and his team members Syed Zafarulla and Raghav K have visited this podi several times, one of the more developed hamlets on the main road leading to the Betta. Almost everyone here has been covered. Almost. Rangamma has brought her seven-yearold son Mahadevu for registration.
"The school asks us for his Aadhaar number. So I have come," she says, her brow furrowed in concentration. Her tribe, the Soligas, more famous for harbouring sandalwood smuggler Veerappan in the late 1990s, have come out of the forest to this podi a few years back. The ways of non-forest folk are still new to them. She is sending her son to the government school like all others in her podi, but she does not know what he will do with the shikshana ( education ). Besides schools, it is through the public distribution system (PDS) that the state government is ensuring registration under Aadhaar. The tribals get food grain, oil, salt and pulses as ration from the tribal welfare department. As a trade-off, they don't live in the forests and they don't hunt. Forty-sixyear-old Huliya Siddegowda, speaking painstakingly in Kannada, which is quite different from their Soliga dialect, tells ET Magazine : "They are saying they won't give my rations till I show them my Aadhaar card. So I have come here for the registration."
Life Outside the Forest
The registration, even at the community hall, is not easy. The tribals are wary of the machine that scans their fingerprints, while the iris scanner almost causes panic. Thagadur and his team, with infinite patience, tell them there is nothing to fear and show them the scans on the laptop. The tribals have an air of resignation: that this is one more dance the government has forced on them. In Bangale podi , Kethamma and her husband Bommayya laugh when asked about Aadhaar. Kethamma, a Soliga tribal, has managed the transition to life outside the forest quite well. She is a member of the Yelandur taluk panchayat and was vice-president in the previous term. She and Bommayya have been working with their tribe and have ensured almost 90% coverage under Aadhaar. Kethamma admits that initially she was scared to get fingerprinted and iris scanned.
"It was difficult as I myself did not know what it was. How do I convince my people if I don't do it myself? I gathered courage and did it. After that, it was easy to ask others to enrol for Aadhaar," she says. Bommayya's method is more direct: "I tell them, if they fall down and die somewhere, people should know who they are. Other cards can be faked but, I tell them, fingerprints and iris can't be. The Aadhaar is the best identity." He has none of the doubts that urbanites have over the efficacy of Aadhaar or its privacy concerns. "We get everyone into the fold. After all, all government benefits will come only through Aadhaar in the future," he says. Bommayya came out of the forest in 1979 as a young boy, when the state government sent elephants to the podis to destroy them and force the tribals out. He is not sure if it was the right thing to do.
"Our children are all studying in schools, but they drop out in Classes VII and X. They go back to the same old work of collecting honey and moss to earn their livelihood. Only two persons have succeeded in the outside world — one is an assistant professor in Hassan and the other has completed his PhD on forest management," Bommayya says. He works with NGOs and various government agencies to ensure that his tribe get the facilities due to them. Poverty and listlessness are rampant, but Bommayya believes that education and healthcare will change that. He also says the way to progress for his people is by cooperating with the government on their programmes, including Aadhaar. Bommayya has easy access to podis and no forest official stops his visits.
Taking the Aadhaar team into the forest, though, is a different matter. Thagadur and his team want to visit the Puranic podi deep inside the forest, but are stopped by forest guards. "Have you got permission from our CCF (chief conservator of forests)," the guard asks. Thagadur and Bommayya try to explain to the forest guard that they are also government representatives, but to no avail. Unless the CCF gives permission, they cannot go in. Puranic podi is in a remote forest, with no mobile connectivity; so the CCF is not accessible for permission. Thagadur throws up his hands, shrugs and says, "I will come again, with permission."
Tribals at the Yerakanagadde podi collecting their rations
The conviction the people have in Bommayya and Kethamma is evident. ET Magazine went with the Aadhaar team and Bommayya to Manjigundigoravi podi and Muttagadagadde podi , on the verge of the deep forest. At Manjigudigoravi, Jademahadevi, 20, sits on aluminium pot that Raghav has taken from her hut, posing for the laptop that he has balanced on another pot. She has no idea what it is all about and hesitantly looks to Bommayya before putting her fingers on the fingerprinting machine. Everyone else in the podi has gone away to work for daily wages. The only other person there is Lakshmana Dasegowda, 70, who comforts her: "Don't worry, I have done this, it is okay." Masanamma, 65, at Muttagadagadde, smiles when asked about the Aadhaar card. "Our leader," pointing to Bommayya, "has asked us to do it, so we are doing it. I don't know why," she shrugs.
Resistance and Dissensions
Almost everyone in this podi has been registered. Thagadur talks to Basamma, whose son has still not come under the Aadhaar ambit. "He has gone to Honmenti for work," Basamma says. "I will bring him to the Yerakanagadde camp as soon as he comes," she tells Thagadur and Bommayya. Prema Siddegowda, who belongs to the generation that was born outside the forest, is not aware that her one-year-old daughter should also be registered for Aadhaar. There is much coaxing and talking before she sits with her daughter Aishwarya on her lap, balancing themselves on a concrete slab that operator Raghav has arranged.
Jadegowda, however, is not happy with Aadhaar. "I don't trust Bommayya," he tells ET Magazine . "He has not helped me get government money to build my house. Why should I do this Aadhaar when it doesn't help me in any way?" he asks. Thagadur says there is resistance to Aadhaar registration from several sections as they fear losing the facilities that they already have. "They have been asked for their thumbprint at the sub-registrar's offices for land transfer. They fear this is some other way of snatching their land. Several people also have multiple BPL cards and don't want to lose out by getting Aadhaar authenticated," he says.
The team, however, is firm that the registration has to be done, whichever way possible. They have gone into schools, anganwadis, homes and even the HIV ward of a hospital in their quest to cover every single person under Aadhaar. "We used the medicine chest at the HIV ward to keep our laptop on," Thagadur says. The team has got in touch with Nehru Yuva Kendra and other youth groups to identify the aged, the infirm and the mentally challenged and send them details on WhatsApp. The team promptly goes to their homes and registers them. "By December, Chamarajanagar will be covered 100% under Aadhaar," Thagadur says with quiet confidence. "That is the kind of commitment and level of difficulty that our district coordinators are working with," says project manager Prabhakar. "I am not able to pay them high wages. What they are doing is out of passion. This is the only reason every person will be covered under this project."
