A year after UID launch, village awaits benefits….Prachi Pinglay
APATHY 1,800 villagers, who received their UID cards last year, were told that it would entitle them to welfare schemes, but life hasn’t changed for them
APATHY 1,800 villagers, who received their UID cards last year, were told that it would entitle them to welfare schemes, but life hasn’t changed for them
In her dimly lit hut in Tembhli in Nandurbar district, Ranjana Sonawane has hung a photograph that shows her standing next to prime minister Manmohan Singh and Congress chief Sonia Gandhi.
The photograph was taken on September 29, 2010, when Tembhli became the first Unique Identification (UID) compliant village.
A year after the inaugural function, life hasn’t changed for the 1,800 tribal residents of the village situated 450km north of Mumbai. I have kept the (UID) card safely but now we are wondering what was it for. We were promised houses and education for children but no one has visited us since the programme, said Sonawane.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is headed by Nandan Nilenkani former co chairman of information technology firm Infosys, was set up in 2009. It is respon sible for implementing Aadhaar, a unique identification (UID) number project based on bi metric data of Indians. The UID number is proposed to be the sole proof of residence and identity. Villagers, who received their UID cards last year, were told that the card would entitle them to welfare schemes. When Soniaji came, we were promised many things. They said this card would ensure jobs, said Bansi Chendul, 71, the village’s deputy sarpanch.
Now, when we ask for jobs, people taunt us saying Sonia Gandhi gave you money now why are you here, said Gangabai Sonawane, a mother of eight children. Since the UID launch function, the government opened more 800 savings bank accounts for the villagers. No money has been transferred to them. The villagers will be given Rs 100 in those accounts as part of the financial inclusion plan. We have begun the disbursement of funds, said Santosh Bhogale, under secretary of the state’s information technology department. But the barely literate villagers, who were preparing for their annual short-term migration to Gujarat to work as farm labour, are unaware of the project’s intricacies. Chendul and his wife have nine documents, including a ration card, a voter’s card, certificate for poverty status and a bank passbook and a UID card (see pic). We use the other cards to access government schemes but we don’t know what the UID card is for, said Chendul.
Two other villages Asus and Hodguzri, in the same gram panchayat, are yet to begin enrollments for the UID cards. None of us have got the cards. The villagers are angry, said Chhabadibai Sonawane, a former sarpanch, who shared the stage with Sonia Gandhi and the PM last year.
For Tembhli residents, the registrations happened in the village itself but here people spend half a day traveling to the taluka office in Shahada. Also those who migrate for three to six months might get left out, said Sanjay Mahale, current sarpanch.
A UID number, which will link all the schemes, will help us in implementing welfare programmes, said RS Ahire, block development officer, who oversees more than a 100 welfare schemes in Nandurbar district.
But as of now we have not received any such plan.