‘No Kannada in Bangalore One centers': Man shares an ordeal of a daily wage worker who wants to update Aadhar

Bangalore One centers lack local language forms, causing difficulties for residents. A user highlighted the need for Kannada forms to assist local people.

The unavailability of local language forms in Bangalore One centers in tech capital is making the lives of many people tough as many are seeking the help of others while filling the necessary documents. An X user with an handle name ‘Bengaluru man’ shared one such incident, which is drawing the ire of Kannada activists in the city.

An X user complained that he had to help the daily wage worker to fill out his form as the entire form was in English.

In an X post, a Bengaluru man shared his encounter with a daily wage worker at one of the Bangalore One centres, where the latter was having trouble filling out the form to update his Aadhar card. He wrote, “I’m in Bangalore One citizen service centre for an Aadhaar update, waiting for my turn to come. Next to me is a daily wage guy with his wife and kid. He asks for help - he doesn’t know how to fill the form for his wife’s Aadhaar update. Apparently, Kannada forms are not available so he has been given the forms in English.”

The user said that he had to help the daily wage worker to fill out his form as the entire form was in English. “I barely speak Kannada, and he barely speaks Hindi. So we pantomime at each other while I fill the forms for him (which are all in English) Nobody else there wants to help him. So I have to sit with him for 20 mins and explain what each field means and why I need to fill things in. This is a big miss. Can’t believe local language forms are not easily available and the default is English,” he added.

He also said that the daily wage worker was helpless at Bangalore One centre as no one was helping him out. “So, I ask him why don’t you take help from staff and he’s like they shout at me and call me illiterate. You are the only person who helped me today. Crazy reality check,” he rounded off.

X user demand bringing in Kannada forms

Many users said that having Kannada forms in Bangalore One centers will immensely help the local people who do not know English. A user wrote, “Today I went to post office for aadhaar update and bought one form which is only in English, sadly there were already people filling in and I asked to come tomorrow. But a form that is not provided with regional language is so sad that many people won't be able to understand it.”

Another user said that some of the nationalised banks in Karnataka have forms only in English and Hindi, making it difficult for local people. The user said, “This is what we always tell. Go to Bank, all forms in English & Hindi. Not sure why govt prints forms in the official language of the state where they have offices.”