Aadhaar: Gas chamber that kills the hungry
The death of poor tribal Kaleshwara Soren has proved the fact to the nation that Supreme Court verdict on Aadhaar can never help the impoverished. Aadhaar is controlling the life of the poor of this country. Forget the other facilities, even to avail a kilo of rice, if it is mandatory to have Aadhaar, it is the heights of cruelty that prevails in a democratic nation. In some ways, this is the beginning of adivasi mass carnage.
45-year old Kaleshwara Soren of a village near Dumka ji in Jharkhand, died of hunger and malnutrition recently. This is the 17th hunger related death in that state since Santosh Kumari's death last year for similar reasons.
Kaleshwara wasn't ailing from any serious illness. According to his son, his father hadn't eaten two days prior to his death.
He had stopped working at the brick kiln where he was earning a living, owing to injury. Hunger and poverty has kept him away from education. His children migrated in search of work. They hadn't got even cold meal in Anganwadi, forget hot mid day meal as offered by the government. Job guarantee scheme such as MGNREGA didn't exist in his village. His family didn't have a job card. They didn't have any job opportunity to earn a living and remain alive. In this case, his only hope was public distribution of ration through Antyodaya scheme. That was his last resort. But even that came to a close in 2016 when he could not attach his Aadhaar number to ration card. Two more such hunger deaths has happened in Jharkhand owing to Aadhaar card. State government implemented paperless public distribution system. The objective behind this was to avoid fake and duplicate cases availing resources. Around this time many ration provisions got cancelled under Aadhaar based savings. This was the last shock for poor people like Kaleshwara Soren who lived in rural India, very distant from being beneficiaries of welfare measures launched for poor people.
The official process of 'seeding’ of connecting Aadhaar with ration cards was the reason for this. This process removes duplicates soon as the Aadhaar is linked to public distribution records of people. There are a lot of unresolved issues with this. Every information provided for Aadhar has to tally with the other records. If any one aspect among the provided details -- such as name, spouse's name, address, date of birth, parents name - has inaccuracies, the details are erased from digital format.
How many poor illiterate people of this country would remember such details that they do not use in daily life? This is exactly happened with Kaleshwara. The clever fakes live and the genuine poor are pushed to death.
As per the records of Jharkhand government, details of only 1.7 crore have been seeded among a total of 2.3 crore. What happened to the rest? This case can repeat itself anywhere in the country. Because our media is yet to understand that death can happen due to hunger. Duplicate ration data can be created from duplicate Aadhaar card. But it is impossible for a deserving and genuine poor man to get food without Aadhaar.
The black marketeers are usurping the food of genuine poor people. This is the uncomfortable truth. The government had recognized the fact that Kaleshwara was a poor man.
And if is the duty of government officials to ensure he gets an Aadhaar card if the process turns difficult. But the officers are destructively pleased to remove the names of those without Aadhaar than to ensure he or she gets an Aadhaar. This Aadhaar has turned into a gas chamber for Modi government to eradicate the poor and impoverished. Modi is trying hard to improve the country's image through announcements such as bullet trains, tallest statue, biggest park etc. Naturally so, the Adivasis are a major road block for his dream run. Hence it looks like the government has planned to eradicate them by making random documents and Id cards mandatory so that the poor can be wiped out totally.
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India moving towards becoming global economic powerhouse: Kovind
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Amritsar (PTI): Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said that with digital transformation, economic reforms and a strong focus on the ease of doing business, India is moving towards becoming a global economic powerhouse.
He was speaking after inaugurating the 19th edition of the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) in Amritsar.
The former president said that this 19th edition of PITEX is being organised at a time when India is recognised as one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) the former president, while referring to Punjab, said the state is a living example of courage, sacrifice and enterprise.
"The spiritual light of Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) inspires peace and humanity across the world. The heritage of Punjab is deep and inspiring," Kovind said, according to a statement issued by the PITEX.
The former president congratulated the PHDCCI for hosting the 19th edition of PITEX and suggested that the chamber should expand PITEX outside Punjab.
He proposed that a similar event should also be held in New Delhi.
