Many don't get ration under PDS due to Aadhaar issues, finds latest report

State of Aadhaar Report 2017-18 is a survey that covers 2,947 rural households of AP, Raj & WB

This photo taken on March 6, 2017, shows activists protesting against the government's decision to link free lunch meals for children at state-run schools with the national Aadhaar biometric cards. Pic/AFP

Even as the government promotes Aadhaar as an enabler to ensure that food and other subsidies reach the poor, a new report on Thursday said that a large number of people do not get food ration under the Public Distribution System (PDS) due to factors related to the biometric identification system.

State capacity also has a bearing on the functioning of PDS, with wide variation between Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh, said the report by IDinsight, a global development analytics firm working across India. Expressing concern over the privacy of their data, almost all of the respondents said it was important to know what the government would do with their Aadhaar data.

The 'State of Aadhaar Report 2017-18' is based on the largest household survey since Aadhaar's inception, covering 2,947 rural households in 21 districts across Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan and West Bengal.

Overall monthly exclusion from PDS in Rajasthan is 9.9 per cent, whereas it is 1.1 per cent in Andhra Pradesh. Of this, Aadhaar-related factors contribute 2.2 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively, showed the results of the survey conducted between November 2017 and February 2018. "PDS exclusion due to failure of local administration, though small, should be taken very seriously by the concerned agencies," Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI, said in a statement. "They must ensure that not a single beneficiary is denied. The Aadhaar Act and govt instructions provide for alternate means of identification," he said.

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