Salomi Joseph had been drawing the welfare pension for differently abled without much hassles for the past many years. The only hitch was delay in disbursal of pensions at times. However, it’s not the case any more. This December, her pension was abruptly stopped, only because she did not have an Aadhaar card in her name.
The Union government had last year stipulated that all welfare pensions should be linked to the Aadhaar card of the beneficiaries, ostensibly to target it effectively and prevent people from drawing more than one pension. However, the move has come as a shock for the differently abled.
“Aadhaar requires biometric verification of the thumb and the retina. What about those without a hand or a thumb? What about those who are visually challenged? This is pension for the differently abled and you are asking us to prove our identity using organs that many do not have. Some of us cannot even move out our houses, and we are expected to line up for Aadhaar!” says Salomi.
According to R. Geetha Gopal, chairperson of the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s Welfare Standing Committee, several beneficiaries had complained to her raising similar issues. “We are aware of the issue. Ideally, an exemption should be given to the differently abled. However, since the rule was stipulated by the Centre, it is up to it to amend it. Even the State governments do not have any powers in this regard,” she told The Hindu .
Kamlesh Kumar Pandey, the Union government’s Chief Commissioner for Persons with Disabilities, who was in the city to listen to the grievances of the differently abled, said those without a hand or thumb can use the biometrics of their feet or retina.
Parasuvakkal Mohan, Chairman of the Handicapped Persons’ Welfare Corporation, said ‘mobile Aadhaar’ facility had been launched recently to collect the biometric details of the differently abled from their homes. “It has just been launched in a few panchayats and will probably be expanded soon,” he said.
Questions still remain over whether Aadhar can be made mandatory for any purpose. The Supreme Court had, in its order dated September 23, 2013, said: “In the meanwhile, no person should suffer for not getting the Aadhaar card in spite of the fact that some authority had issued a circular making it mandatory…”
In a second order on March 24, 2014, the court had said, “…no person shall be deprived of any service for want of Aadhaar number in case he/she is otherwise eligible/entitled. All the authorities are directed to modify their forms/circulars/likes so as to not compulsorily require the Aadhaar number in order to meet the requirement of the interim order passed by this court forthwith.”
On March 16, 2016, the court further said that, “…In the meanwhile, it is brought to our notice that in certain quarters, Aadhaar identification is being insisted upon by the various authorities, we do not propose to go into the specific instances. We expect that both the Union of India and States and all their functionaries should adhere to the order passed by this court on September 23, 2013.”
