Six months after a man in Odisha’s Kandhamal district lodged a complaint in Lok Adalat after failing to get his Aadhaar card after more than 20 attempts, the hearing in the case is yet to begin.
Jitendra Sethi, a 33-year-old daily wage labourer from Khetapaju village under Khejuripada block of Kandhamal district had first queued up for an Aadhar card six years ago at the local tehsil office along with his parents Maheswar Sethi and Balmati Sethi and wife Laxmi Sethi. While his parents and wife managed to get their Aadhaar card, he could not get it. He tried enrolling again at the Aadhaar enrolment camp in Banaskumpa gram panchayat office six months later, but still could not get it. His three daughters, the last one Ekisha born 2 years ago, too has got her Aadhar card after getting her details enrolled in the UIDAI database.
But Sethi has remained unlucky as his name failed to make it to the database. “When I first enrolled for the Aadhaar number six years ago along with my father, I thought I would get it quickly which would enable me to get a bank account as it is mandatory. My parents and wife got it, but I was unlucky,” said Sethi.
The lack of Aadhaar card has made Sethi ineligible for getting the food grain under National Food Security Act (NFSA) that he is supposed to get every month. While the family is supposed to get 25 kg of rice every month for five-members of his family, they get 20 kg rice only.
{{/usCountry}}The lack of Aadhaar card has made Sethi ineligible for getting the food grain under National Food Security Act (NFSA) that he is supposed to get every month. While the family is supposed to get 25 kg of rice every month for five-members of his family, they get 20 kg rice only.
{{/usCountry}}After getting rejected about 10 times, Sethi met the sub-collector who reportedly asked him to apply again, but for inexplicable reasons his application was again rejected. “I was asked to approach the Odisha Computer Application Centre in Bhubaneswar. But I am a daily wage labourer. How can I sacrifice my day’s wage to go to Bhubaneswar?” said Sethi.
Frustrated over his attempts in getting an Aadhaar card, Sethi filed a case in the Lok Adalat in March this year, but the hearing in the case is yet to take place.
In Odisha, Aadhar enrolment is necessary for getting several benefits like pension as well several state welfare schemes.
Officials in Kandhamal district administration said they have to look into the applications of Sethi before commenting on it. Uppara Narendranath who is in charge of UIDAI’s Aadhaar enrolment for Odisha, said he would not be able to comment on it without looking into the case records.