The aim of the Unique Identification Number was to make access to bank accounts easier but the first Aadhaar card holder is still not eligible for loans
In September 2010, Ranjana Sonawane became the first person in the
country to get an Aadhaar card when the Unique Identity (UID) project
was flagged off with much fanfare in Tembhli village in Maharashtra.
But today, what is unmistakeable is the disappointment the tribal woman
expresses as she stands in front of the framed photographs of her
receiving the card from United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson
Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“I spent Rs.600 in getting these photographs framed. It was a big moment
for me … for the villagers of Tembhli. But today, we are exactly where
we were four years ago. Even the roads in our village were built only
for Sonia Gandhi, not for us,” Ms. Sonawane told The Hindu recently.
Both she and her husband are farm labourers, earning Rs.200 each on
lucky days.
Tembhli — its 1,200-strong population is entirely tribal — is a part of
Nandurbar district, which has a 68 per cent tribal population. More than
70 per cent of the village migrates to western Maharashtra and Gujarat
six months of the year, to work on sugarcane farms, according to Deputy
Sarpanch Banshi Shendul. The day this correspondent visited the village,
it wore a deserted look, with most houses locked, and only the older
generation staying behind.
One of the features of the UID, a major political plank of the
Congress-led UPA government, was that benefits of government schemes
would be linked to its 12-digit number, making it easier for people to
open and access bank accounts, secure loans and get payments of the work
through Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act
(MNREGA).
“UID will help the hundreds of people in India, whose pride was hurt for
so many years because of the lack of an identity. This will be their
source of recognition from now on,” Dr. Singh had announced in Tembhli.
Identity, but no loan
There is recognition as Dr. Singh promised but no loan, said Sonawane’s
neighbour, Kamalbai Nigode. “My son tried to take a loan. But he was
told that Adivasi people do not return the money they borrow. We are
poor, so we are not eligible for loans.”
“Only those with land are given loans. MNREGA payments through the
Aadhar card are barely important for villagers, as we work as labourers
in farms all year around,” Mr. Shendul said. “What the village needs is
opportunities, and the compulsory Aadhaar registration has not helped us
with it.”
Villagers recall every house getting new electricity meters when Ms
Gandhi’s visit to the village to launch Aadhaar was announced. “We all
got electricity. It was like Diwali in our village. But after a few
months, we could not pay the bills anymore, so our meters were taken
away,” 70-year-old Ms Nigode said.
“Even the electricity was for Sonia Gandhi, just to show that our
village has progressed. She hasn’t come back to check, has she?” she
added, displaying her framed photograph from the Aadhaar ceremony.
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