Modi govt 'weaponizing' Aadhaar to deny social welfare benefits: Congress

The Congress on Wednesday (August 30) hit out at the government for continuing to experiment with technology and 'weaponizing' Aadhaar to deny the most vulnerable citizens their social welfare benefits. Simultaneously, the Congress demanded pending payments to be released to MGNREGA workers.

The Opposition party's attack comes after the rural development ministry extended the mixed route of wage payment till December 31 or till further orders following a review of the progress of the Aadhaar-based payment system.

Delaying the inevitable

In a statement, Congress general secretary Jairam Ramesh said the extension has been given for the fifth time. This has become inevitable because despite four extensions, 41.1 per cent of the total 26 crore job card holders still remain ineligible for this mode of payment, he said. The government had initially ruled out any more extensions as the fourth extension ends on August 31, saying that only 18.3 per cent active workers will become ineligible, he said. Ramesh alleged that with five state polls around the corner and the widespread outrage, the government is trying to delay the inevitable with its continued 'experiments with technology'.

"The prime minister's disdain for MNREGA is well-documented. Yet, the Modi government was forced to turn to MGNREGS during the COVID-19 pandemic and even now due to the continuing rural distress, record numbers of workers have demanded work under MGNREGA this year," he said.

To escape its law-mandated responsibility to pay wages to all those who demand work, the government, in the name of improving transparency and efficiency, has repeatedly denied work or wages to MGNREGA workers, he alleged. According to the government's own estimate, more than 2.6 crore active workers would not have been paid their legally mandated wages from September 1, Ramesh said.

This number does not include the crores of workers who have had their job cards deleted due to various errors of omission and commission, he said.

No significant efficiency gain

A working paper released by a public research & advocacy group, Libtech, analyses approximately 3.2 crore wage transactions, spread across 327 blocks in 10 states notes that there is no significant efficiency gain with Aadhaar-based payment system vis-a-vis bank account payments - as there is neither a notable difference in time taken to process payments (39 per cent in 7 days versus 36 per cent), nor an improvement in rejection rates (2.1 per cent versus 2.6 per cent), Ramesh said.

The paper also notes that massive issues exist with the payments system - wages are being diverted or misdirected to different account holders due to Aadhaar linking errors, and crores of job cards have been deleted as workers are unable to meet the cumbersome Aadhaar-based payment system requirements due to systemic errors and systematic discrimination, he said.

"A large amount of the delay payment compensation due to the workers has not been released yet, nor even acknowledged by the Modi government, despite repeated demands," Ramesh said, citing the paper.

Aadhaar: Weapon to exclude citizens

Aadhaar was introduced by the UPA government as a tool to empower citizens by making it easier for them to access social welfare benefits, he said. The Modi government, especially in the case of MGNREGA and soon with pensions and other social welfare benefits, has used it as a 'weapon to exclude citizens from their guaranteed rights', Ramesh said. "By making them bear the brunt of its 'experiments with technology', the Modi government has hurt the incomes of the most vulnerable and the poorest of the poor," he alleged.

The Congress demands that the Modi government should stop 'weaponizing' Aadhaar and technology to deny the most vulnerable citizens their social welfare benefits, release the payments due to MGNREGA workers, and instead implement open muster rolls and social audits to improve transparency, said the Congress general secretary. 

(With agency inputs)