No Aadhaar: Villagers deprived of food security Monday, 06 September 2021 | AJIT PANDA | NUAPADA
No Aadhaar: Villagers deprived of food security
Gunsae Paharia lives in village Kathfar located 3,000 feet above the sea level in Boden block of Nuapada district with his wife Basanti and a two-year-old child Mahendra. “We are three in family, but getting only 5 kg of rice per month,” Basanti said.
The reason is Basanti does not have an Aadhaar address in Odisha. She came to Kathfar three years ago from village Kuladhighat of Chhattisgarh after her marriage to Gunsae.
“I requested panchayat officials to add my wife in my ration card, but they denied on the ground that her Aadhaar does not have address of Odisha,” said Gunsae. “Unfortunately, we lost the card on our way to Boden to the Adhaar centre to change the address,” he explains.
“It is now sure that Basanti would not be included in any food security scheme as we know it is not easy to retrieve Aadhaar card once it is lost,” says Saroj Nag who works in that village in a Government project. Gunsae is also yet to obtain the Aadhaar of his son and that deprives the child of getting the ration under PDS.
In another such case, Sanmati came from Tarajher of Chhattisgarh to Kathfar after her marriage to Suresh Paharia and they have a child. Suresh is included in his mother’s ration card, but Sanmati and the child are yet to be added. They also have the same problem: Sanmati’s Aadhaar address is yet to be updated and their child is yet to be registered.
There are several such persons in Kathfar village alone who are deprived of PDS as they are unable to get Aadhaar registration. “The main difficulty in getting Aadhaar registration is the long distance of the Aadhaar Kiosk, the nearest centre at Boden being 25 km far from the village and there is no communication facility,” said Hiralal Majhi, former Samiti Member of Bhainsadani GP.
There are many others in the village who have been excluded from food security in spite of having Aadhaar. Khirdhar Paharia of Sindurpen hamlet of the village has eight members in his family, but two of his young children, Sujata and Rajman, have not been included in the ration card although they have Aadhaar numbers.
When contacted, the Marketing Inspector of Boden block said people with Aadhaar registration can be included in the scheme, but nothing can be done for those who don’t have the Aadhaar number.
“Paharias are listed as tribals in Chhattisgarh and our community is one of the vulnerable tribes there. But in Odisha, we don’t figure in tribal list. Such deprivation from the food scheme adds to our vulnerabilities,” said Indra Paharia, a community leader.
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