Aadhaar Seeding And Job Card Deletions, MGNREGA Employees Are Caught In The Center

Technical glitches can take away the correct to work if one applies for a brand new card when a part of the household job card, whereas names are likely to disappear from muster rolls after Aadhaar linking

By Suresh Kumar Mohapatra

When Dhananjay Sahu (29) from Akhusingi village in Rayagada district began residing individually after marriage, he determined to use for a brand new job card underneath the Mahatma Gandhi Nationwide Rural Employment Assure Act (MGNREGA) scheme. He needed his spouse additionally to learn from the medical insurance supplied underneath the Nirman Shramik Kalyan Yojana, for which an MGNREGA job card is used as a major identification instrument. He additionally hoped to make sure 100 days of labor for the brand new family by accessing the brand new card.

No new card was issued to him, regardless of making use of at Akhusingi gram panchayat final December. A lot to his dismay, he later learnt that he had misplaced his MGNREGA id. ‘As soon as I utilized for the brand new card, my identify was deleted from the job card of my mother and father. Once I approached the officers involved, they stated re-entering a reputation together with the linked Aadhaar quantity was not doable as soon as it was deleted from the web site. Briefly, I misplaced my proper to work underneath the MGNREGA,’ Sahu, a plumber, advised 101Reporters.

Sahu’s case is not any exception. Job playing cards are flagged as duplicates on the MGNREGA web site when members of the family apply for a brand new card. As soon as Aadhaar numbers and account particulars are linked to a household job card, the web site doesn’t permit entry to a brand new card to any member of that household.  

The issue stems from the Ministry of Rural Growth’s announcement in January, making the Aadhaar-based Fee System (ABPS) obligatory for all funds to the MGNREGA beneficiaries. Employees ought to hyperlink their Aadhaar numbers with their job playing cards and financial institution accounts to get funds by way of ABPS. The earlier instruction was to hyperlink Aadhaar with energetic job card holders, however the brand new directive made it obligatory to hyperlink Aadhaar numbers of all job card holders.

The deadline for implementing ABPS has been prolonged a fifth time — to December 31 from the final set time restrict of August 31. In a bid to satisfy the deadline, the names of employees present in multiple database are being eliminated with out a lot thought, resulting in a pointy spike in such deletions.

Responding to questions raised by Congress MPs Gaurav Gogoi and VK Sreekandan concerning the 244.3 per cent hike in deletion of MGNREGA job playing cards within the 2022-23 fiscal in opposition to the earlier two monetary years, Rural Growth Minister Giriraj Singh knowledgeable the Lok Sabha in a written reply on July 25 that over five crore job cards have been deleted within the final fiscal.

The explanations talked about for deletions have been pretend (incorrect) job playing cards, duplicate playing cards, unwillingness to work, everlasting relocation of a household from a gram panchayat or circumstances the place the one individual listed within the card has handed away.

As an illustration, in Rayagada district, there have been 2,26,151 job card households in 2021. During the last three years, 68,864 job playing cards have been nixed, reflecting a deletion price of greater than 30 per cent. Equally, within the Padmapur block of Rayagada district, the variety of job playing cards has come down to eight,230 at current from the 15,515 in 2021-22 fiscal.  

Aadhaar impact

When Upendra Mandangi from Perupango village tried Aadhaar-job card-bank account linking, he bought the message of profitable linking. Nevertheless, after a couple of days, his job card quantity was not seen on the web site. When he tried to register for handbook work, his identify was lacking from the muster roll.

‘Once I complained to the panchayat officers, they advised me about an automatic course of on the web site that brought about the issue. They stated it was past their management they usually had no concept what was making it,’ he added.

Ananda Dandasena from Akhusingi shared his bitter expertise. ‘I utilized for work however didn’t get a notification. Once I enquired with the supervisor (mate) on why my identify was lacking from the muster roll, he knowledgeable me that my Aadhaar quantity had been mechanically deleted (unfreeze) from the web site.’

Doable options

With none doubt, one can say that mass deletion has had an impression on many real employees as effectively. The MGNREGA job card serves as a key doc of identification in rural areas. They’re used for finishing Know Your Buyer (KYC) procedures at banks and publish places of work whereas opening accounts. Additionally they function the first doc for registering development employees in labour places of work, thereby offering them with insurance coverage protection.

Akhusingi gram panchayat sarpanch Purnabasi Sabar advised 101Reporters that when a household shifted to a different panchayat, their information ought to ideally be transferred to their new panchayat. ‘This course of includes the deletion of job card information, together with Aadhaar and checking account numbers, from the outdated panchayat. Though the MGNREGA web site permits entry of latest family names, errors are proven when trying to hyperlink Aadhaar and account numbers to the brand new job playing cards within the new panchayat. So the brand new panchayat the place the beneficiaries shifted are unable to difficulty new job playing cards,’ he stated.

As soon as an Aadhaar card information is deleted from the MGNREGA web site, it can’t be re-entered. In keeping with the official sources on the Panchayati Raj Division in Rayagada district, it was earlier doable to unfreeze the Aadhaar and account numbers of the deleted job card holders by way of the district programme coordinator’s login. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Rural Growth eliminated this selection final 12 months.

Utkal Sabar, a social employee from Sandhikhola village, stated the Central authorities ought to present gram panchayats the ability to delete job playing cards, and the associated Aadhaar numbers and account particulars. Such an strategy would show useful when folks shift to a different panchayat.

Noting that job playing cards are issued on the premise of Below Poverty Line survey information, 2002, Prabhas Kumar Padhy, a youth chief from Akhusingi, advised 101Reporters ‘It’s excessive time we stopped issuing job playing cards primarily based on such outdated information.’

Anil Kumar Parida, a social employee from Bahupadar, stated the Central authorities ought to difficulty job playing cards primarily based on Aadhaar information and never BPL 2002 information. ‘This is able to guarantee seamless card technology, the place account numbers are already linked. Such an strategy would improve rural job safety and livelihood,’ he stated.

Social activist Saroj Kumar Sprint of Gudiabandha alleged that the clear intention behind job card deletions and technical errors was to curtail MGNREGA work on the grassroots degree.

‘In the course of the scheme’s preliminary days, the main focus was on sustaining a 60:40 ratio between labour and materials parts. Now with the deployment of expertise and ensuing glitches, job seekers are unable to safe even a single day of labor,’ Sprint stated.

Suresh Kumar Mohapatra is an Odisha-based freelance journalist and a member of 101Reporters, a pan-India community of grassroots reporters