Jharkhand: The Alleged death of 11-yr-old Santoshi Kumari due to starvation this September raised questions on Jharkhand’s Chief Secretary’s controversial move in April last year ordering ration cards not linked to Aadhaar will be ineligible for benefits.
Speaking of reports of the death of the 11-yr-old girl, Ajay Bhushan Pandey Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said the girl’s family had already got itself enrolled with Aadhaar in 2014 and that strict action should be taken against the officials for denying the family social welfare benefits.
Social activists claimed that the girl’s family had been denied ration for six months since their ration card was not linked to Aadhar, though they were entitled to social welfare benefits under National Food Security Act.
UIDAI Chairman calling the death of 11-yr-old unfortunate was quoted saying, “The Jharkhand government has ordered a probe into the matter to find out the facts behind the unfortunate incident. I expect that person responsible for denial of benefits, in spite of Aadhaar card, will be held accountable and necessary action will be taken against such people by the state so that it acts as a deterrent in future.”
Speaking of Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, Ajay Pandey said Section 7 states grounds for authentication of identity for social welfare benefits, and that the law clearly states even if the person is not enrolled with Aadhar, the person shall be offered alternate means of identification for delivery of the subsidy, benefit or service.
He further stressed that the death of the 11-yr-old girl was not due to denial of welfare benefits since the girl’s family had been enrolled with UIDAI since 2013.
Further emphasizing on the matter Ajay Pandey said all the officials should be extremely serious to “to the needs of the people” and that the agencies should ensure that no such issues should prevent people from welfare benefits and subsidies. He added people guilty in such cases should be held accountable and also punished.