In 2016, the Delhi government ran a pilot in 42 out of its roughly 2,500 Public Distribution System outlets. At these outlets, Aadhaar-base...
In 2016, the Delhi government ran a pilot in 42 out of its roughly 2,500 Public Distribution System outlets. At these outlets, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication was introduced at the time of sale of grain to ration card holders.
A survey was done by students of Lady Shri Ram College at one of the pilot PDS outlets, incidentally in the shadow of the Supreme Court that was at that time hearing the Aadhaar case, including whether Aadhaar could be made compulsory for welfare.
The survey found that nearly one-third of ration card holders were unable to buy their grain in the survey month because of biometric and other failures. Those who were able to buy their grain received 86% of their entitlement. Respondents also complained about overcharging by the dealer. From a survey of 320 households conducted in May-July 2016, Nandini Nayak and Shikha Nehra reported on the other ways that Aadhaar excludes people from the PDS.
Disregarding early signs of exclusion from the 2016 pilot, the Delhi government (quite possibly under pressure from the Central government) extended Aadhaar-based biometric authentication to all 2,500-odd PDS outlets in the state in January 2018 . At the end of the month, NDTV reported on the exclusion of thousands of families due to biometric...
