10453 - Delivering ration: 'When Aadhar-based system doesn't work, stick to existing, well-tested reforms' - Scroll.In

Delivering ration: 'When Aadhar-based system doesn't work, stick to existing, well-tested reforms'

by Scroll Staff

Published Sep 16, 2016 · 10:30 am.   Updated Yesterday · 11:04 am.

Citing glitches in the authentication system being used in Rajasthan and Jharkhand, experts urge Bihar to improve delivery through other means.

Image credit:  Right to Food Campaign

While the Union government is pushing to make the use of Aadhaar, a biometrics-based digital identity number, mandatory in the public distribution system, academics and social activists have written to Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, asking him to not switch to the fingerprint-based authentication system for the distribution of ration, and to instead focus on improvements in delivery through other measures.

In the letter, development economists Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera, and social activists Kamayani Swami and Ashish Ranjan of Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan, an organisation that works with rural workers in Aaria, Bihar, pointed out that the experience of fingerprint authentication of welfare scheme beneficiaries in other states such as Rajasthan and Jharkhand was “very negative” and resulted in “depriving large numbers of people of their entitlements” when the technology did not work reliably in rural areas, and due to data entry errors, causing immense hardship to beneficiaries.

Drèze had earlier analysed Jharkhand government data to show that after the biometrics-based authentication was made compulsory in ration shops in Ranchi district, ration card holders received only 49%, or less than half their entitlements, in July and August.

"Imposing a technology that does not work on people who depend on it for their survival is a grave injustice," the letter noted.

The authors of the letter added that Bihar had recorded "rapid improvements" in the ration system through other means till 2014, with the estimated grain leakage falling from 90.9% to 24.4% between 2004-'05 and 2011-'12. A 2016 survey by Dreze-Khera had found irregularities in delivery creeping in again in Bihar and Jharkhand. Bihar would do well to continue its own reform measures such as information boards in ration shops, ensuring timely delivery, and fixing schedules for grain distribution, they said.

Cash or Aadhaar-authentication

Under the National Food Security Act, beneficiaries are entitled to 5 kg subsidised grains per person per month. In May last year, the ministry of consumer affairs, food and public distribution wrote to all state governments and Union territories to opt for either cash transfers in place of food, or to adopt fingerprint-based authentication of beneficiaries by installing point-of-sale machines at ration shops across their states.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has opposed Aadhaar being made compulsory in social schemes while several people still do not possess Aadhaar numbers. Bihar is among the states with lowest levels of Aadhaar enrolment and linking of ration cards with Aadhaar, the Financial Express reported earlier this month. 

In their letter this week, the academics and activists criticised the Union government's imposition on the states.

Said Kamayani Swami, an activist with Jan Jagran Shakti Sangathan in Araria, Bihar: “The experience in Rajasthan and Ranchi in Jharkhand shows that Aadhaar technology is not bringing down corruption as the dealer is still allowed to do a manual override when fingerprints don’t work or if there are data entry errors or are doing quantity fraud, but the switch is causing hardship and exclusion for beneficiaries, reducing their access."

Excerpts from the letter:

Respected Chief Minister,

We are writing to share our apprehensions about the imposition of Point of Sale(PoS) machines in the Public Distribution System (PDS), and also about replacing food with cash.

As you know, we have been watching the PDS in Bihar with keen interest. We were impressed with the rapid improvements that took place until 2014, but disappointed to find no evidence of further progress in our most recent survey in June 2016.

Meanwhile, we hear that the central government is putting pressure on state governments to explore two alternatives to the Public Distribution System: switch to cash, or deploy Aadhaar-enabled machines at ration shops. In response to this pressure, several state governments have started using Point of Sale machines.

The experience of these states (especially Rajasthan and Jharkhand) with PoS machines is very negative. On the one hand, Point of Sale machines fail to address the main source of corruption, which is quantity fraud (dealers give people less than their full entitlements) rather than identity fraud. On the other hand, because the Point of Sale system is so unreliable (it requires several fragile technologies to work together, in addition to correct seeding of Aadhaar numbers etc.), it ends up depriving large numbers of people of their entitlements.

In Ranchi District (the pilot district in Jharkhand), Public Distribution System cardholders have been getting less than half of their entitlements since the Point of Sale system was made compulsory. Imposing a technology that does not work on people who depend on it for their survival is a grave injustice.

The states that decided to try Point of Sale machines did so because they understand that the other option given to them by the centre, i.e., to switch to cash transfers is neither practical nor advisable.

Among other issues, the banking system in Bihar is simply not ready to handle mass cash transfers. As with NREGA wages and social security pensions, the payments are likely to be very irregular and chaotic, depriving people of the little security they have from the Public Distribution System and causing much discontent.

Instead of switching to other systems that are almost bound to fail, we feel that the Bihar government should persevere with well-tested Public Distribution System reforms – timely door-step delivery of grain, putting ration lists and other Public Distribution System data online, ensuring a fixed schedule for delivery of grain, etc.

Some of these reforms have already been initiated in Bihar, with significant results, but others are yet to be implemented (in our experience, for instance, very few ration shops in Bihar have an information board). Further, much more needs to be done to make Public Distribution System dealers accountable, if not replace remove them altogether as has been done with much success in Chhattisgarh and Odisha.

The Bihar government could also consider using non-biometric Point of Sale machines that record transactions in offline mode, for weekly uploading on the Public Distribution System portal. This would ensure reliable recording of last-mile transactions without the fatal dependence on multiple fragile technologies inherent in the Point of Sale system.

Prakash Kumar, the deputy secretary food and civil supplies, in the Bihar government, said that the state government had launched two pilot projects, one to experiment with cash transfers in Kasba block in Purnea district, and a second on fingerprint-authentication using Aadhaar in Nalanda district.

We welcome your comments at letters@scroll.in.

3191 - Aadhaar cases pending in courts

Aadhaar cases pending in courts

By Prabhu Mallikarjunan | ENS - BANGALORE

31st March 2013 08:30 AM

Several cases have been filed in various courts questioning the security aspects and the legality with regard to Aadhaar cards.

The National Identification Authority of India Bill, which seeks to establish an Identification Authority and lay down the process of issuing the Aadhaar cards and safeguards for protection of privacy of Aadhaar number holders, is yet to be cleared in Parliament. But the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has already enrolled more than 30 crore people.

In November, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice J Chelameshwar issued notices to Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission and the UIDAI on a PIL by a retired judge of Karnataka High Court K S Puttaswamy who said the government was bypassing Parliament by going ahead with  the distribution of UID numbers.

Interestingly, a PIL was filed in the Bombay HC last week questioning the lack of safeguards in the Aadhaar cards. The court directed the UIDAI and the Centre to decide the matter within three months.

The PIL by Vickram Krishna, Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Yogesh Pawar, Dr Nagarjuna G and Prof R Ramkumar said such mandatory, non-voluntary and coercive enrolment for Aadhaar cards was against one’s personal integrity and right to make decisions for themselves. It also violated the Right to Life under Article 21 of the Constitution, they added.

The Karnataka HC issued notices to the UIDAI and the Centre on a petition challenging the order of a City Civil and Sessions Court that refused to entertain an appeal to declare ‘Aadhaar scheme illegal’.

Speaking to Express, the petitioner, V K Somashekhar, said, “The government cannot enforce something on every citizen. The UIDAI cannot waste thousands of crores of public money in building a system without any legal sanction. We certainly will fight to make every responsible person accountable and recover the money wasted.”

“Moreover, the Parliamentary Standing Committee has found the project full of uncertainty in technology as the complex scheme is built upon untested, unreliable technology and on assumptions,” Somashekhar added.

This apart, the Andhra Pradesh HC has issued notices to the Union Petroleum Secretary, oil marketing companies and State Civil Supplies Department directing them to place information on the rationale for linking Aadhaar cards to LPG supply to domestic consumers.

In another case, the Punjab and Haryana HC has issued notices to the Centre and the Union Territory Administration where the UID card was made mandatory for registration of vehicle and getting driving licence. However, this stands cancelled now.

In all of these cases, the government is yet come out with proper answers to the petitioners’ queries.

2474 - “Say no to UID campaign” gathers 3.57 crore signatures - Money Life

“Say no to UID campaign” gathers 3.57 crore signatures - Money Life

March 21, 2012 04:49 PM

Moneylife Digital Team

Despite the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and other civil society groups coming out against the UID scheme, the government is yet to act on the opposition to the scheme from various quarters

Two days before the Union Budget, 2012-13, a truckload of signatures arrived in New Delhi. Collected by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), these 3.57 crore signatures were in support of a campaign named “Say no to UID”. Yet, what can possibly be the biggest signature campaign largely went unreported.

On 14th March, a rally led by SUCI met prime minister Manmohan Singh. The truckload of signatures for the petition demanding the scrapping of UID and some other biometric data-collection schemes have been pictured. A delegation, headed by SUCI member Tarun Mandal, also met the prime minister to discuss their demands. Mr Mandal could not be contacted, as he is abroad. Though the SUCI rally was covered by some newspapers, they appeared oblivious to the presence of the truck that carried the 3.57 crore signatures.

The “Say no to UID” campaign is being supported by various civil society organisations and citizens groups. Gopal Krishna, spokesperson of Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), New Delhi says, “The petition was submitted to the PM on 14th March. Independent organisations across India are supporting the move. We want the government to scrap the UID Aadhaar scheme immediately.”

A press release dated 16th March, sent out by the consortium of the civil society groups, cites the report on The National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010, by the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance, 2011-12. The PSC report, dated December 2011, had damned the UID scheme, and came down heavily on the Executive for infringing on legislative powers. The press release says, “The Union Budget allocation of Rs14,232 crore for Aadhar-UID demonstrates a contempt of Parliament as it seems to ignore the recommendations of the report of PSC on Finance on the NIDAI Bill, 2010.” The groups have also criticised the National Population Register (NPR), another project that requires biometric enrolments of all citizens.

The PSC report had stated, “Considering the contradictions and ambiguities within the government on its implementation as well as implications, the committee categorically convey their unacceptability of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, in its present form. The committee would, thus, urge the government to reconsider and review the UID scheme as also the proposals contained in the Bill in all its ramifications and bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament.”

The PSC had said, “The collection of biometric information and its linkage with personal information without amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, as well as the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, appears to be beyond the scope of subordinate legislation, which needs to be examined in detail by Parliament.”

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, eminent social activist and human rights lawyer, said that the increased allocation for UID amounts to a contempt of the Parliament. Col Mathew Thomas, a former defence services officer and missile scientist turned civic activist and Somasekhar VK, founder patron of Coordinated Action of Consumer & Voluntary Organizations of Karnataka have challenged the UID Aadhaar scheme in a representative suit in a civil court in Bangalore. Mr 

Somasekhar has extensively campaigned against this issue, and he says, “Most of the people after attending our programmes ask us about the procedure to withdraw from the Aadhar registration and many of them are writing to the respective agencies to withdraw and cancel their applications. This will further complicate the process and we have to see how they go about it.” Col Matthew says that mentioning the 3.57 crore signatures against UID will strengthen their case.

1567 - India: Activists slam Kerala state govt over online tracking of students - Asian Correspondent

By Subir Ghosh Aug 31, 2011 3:09AM UTC

A circular issued by the Kerala government directing the public education department to deploy online school management software called Sampoorna in schools across the state has drawn flak from civil liberties activists.

According to the circular, details of as many as 6 million students spanning over 15,000 schools in the state would be captured in this scheme. All schoolchildren will soon have unique identification numbers (UID), which will help in tracking their movements in educational institutions and academic records. The circular says, “The headmasters of the schools should ensure that all students have filled in the forms before 31/08/2011, ordered by class and division. The education officers are directed to monitor these explicitly.”

In a complaint filed with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, civil society activists Kamayani Bali Mahabal , Anivar Aravind and Usha Ramanathan drew attention to the fact that a law to govern the UID project is yet to be passed by Parliament. The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in Parliament on December 3, 2010, and sent to the Standing Committee of Finance on 20th December 2010. The committee has reportedly expressed serious reservations about the project. The project is, in other words, currently operating outside the protection of law.

“It has been acknowledged that there are abiding concerns about privacy that the project has to address before it can be allowed to proceed. There is a draft Privacy Bill that has not yet been introduced in Parliament. There are no protections that the law provides. There are no protocols about who can access the information, how the UID number may be used, what will happen if there is identity theft and identity loss. There are no protections against tracking and profiling. The collection of biometrics increases the concern,” they said.

“There is no means of controlling the recording and retrieval of data about children, and that is especially serious since our jurisprudence clearly states that the records relating to children except public exam marks should not be carried into adulthood. This is especially important where the child has had a difficult growing up and may have encountered problems of being a ‘neglected child’ or a ‘child in conflict with the law’. These are specifically proscribed from being carried into adulthood, with good reason. The UID, with its ability to link up data bases poses a threat to this important area of personal safety and protection of the child.”

The question of informed consent is an important element in public policy; kindly consider what the choicelessness imposed on parents as also the children means in the enforcing of public policy, they contended.

The complaint also said, “As parents, we make decisions for our children on a daily basis. Some will affect their lives for the next few minutes; others will potentially affect the rest of their lives. When replacing any existing system, it is often easier to see how a new system fixes the shortcomings in the existing system, but often it is the case that any new system also comes with its own set of weaknesses some of which were not immediately evident.”