Editor’s Pick: an urgent plea on Aadhar and ration cards

(The Editor's Pick is a new newsletter from The Hindu that provides a snapshot of the most important stories from today's edition of our newspaper, along with a note from our top editors on why we chose to give prominence to these stories.)

In the course of a hearing on Wednesday, the Supreme Court said it was a “very serious” matter if the Centre has really cancelled around three crore ration cards, including those of tribals and the poor, solely because they could not be biometrically linked with Aadhaar. The court has sought a response from the Centre and all the states on the issue and said the matter will be put up for final hearing

A Bench led by Chief Justice of India Sharad A. Bobde asked the Centre to respond to an allegation made in a petition by Koili Devi, represented by senior advocate Colin Gonsalves, that such cancellations had led to starvation deaths across the country.

“The insistence on Aadhaar and biometric authentication had led to the cancellation of nearly four crore ration cards in the country according to the Union of India. The Union of India casually gives an explanation that these cancelled cards were bogus. The real reason is that the technological system based on iris identification, thumb prints, non-possession of Aadhaar, non-functioning of the internet in rural and remote areas, etc, led to large-scale cancellation of ration cards without notice to the family concerned,” a report submitted by the petitioner side said.

Koili Devi’s 11-year-old daughter, Santhoshi Kumari, is allegedly a victim of hunger death in 2017. She said the family’s ration card was cancelled due to non-linkage with Aadhaar. She has sought an independent investigation into the starvation deaths, restoration of the cancelled ration cards, and compensation for the death of her daughter.

The issue of rations being denied to those without Aadhaar linkage had cropped up before. In 2017, following news reports of Santoshi Kumari’s death, the Centre had directed state governments to ensure that no ‘poor’ are refused facilities because they do not have an Aadhaar card or have not linked it with their ration card. Once again, in December 2019, the top court had sought responses from all the states over allegations of starvation deaths of people who were deprived of their ration supplies for not having valid Aadhaar cards. The Centre had on that occasion said that reports suggest that the deaths were not due to starvation.

The tone of the court during yesterday’s hearing was one of urgency however, and that the matter has now been posted for final hearing is an important step in dealing with one of the most far-reaching petitions on the Aadhaar programme. That marks this story out as our top pick of the day.

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