Children at government schools look forward to mid day meals served at these institutions. Today however, the meal which came to these children free of cost, will now come with conditions apply. The Ministry of Human Resource Development declared yesterday that children at government schools would be denied free mid-day meals if they did not have an Aadhaar card.

The card carries a 12-digit identity number, which electronically holds one’s biometric data. The necessity to have the Aadhaar identity has been imposed on the cook-cum-helpers at school as well. By June 30, these children (and cooks) must be enrolled in the Aadhaar scheme, if they still want to eat free hot meals at school.

To deny food to underprivileged school children on the basis of whether they are in possession of an Aadhaar Card or not, seems insensitive.

More importantly, the government’s decision comes in conflict with the Supreme Court. The latter had ruled in 2014 that in the overall scheme of things, the Aadhaar card would not be mandatory and that, “no person shall be deprived of any service for want of Aadhaar number in case he/she is otherwise eligible/entitled”.

As a consequence, it requested all the national institutes and authorities across the board to ensure that the Aadhaar number was mentioned in their forms as a document which wasn’t compulsory. In 2015, it reiterated, “the Aadhaar card Scheme is purely voluntary and it cannot be made mandatory till the matter is finally decided by this Court one way or the other”.

In an attempt to defend its mid-day meal decision, the government reasoned the that Aadhaar cards were necessary since it made the process of delivery of services easier, smoother and transparent. “The use of Aadhaar as identity document for delivery of services, benefits or subsidies simplifies the government delivery process and enables beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly and in a seamless manner,” a senior ministry official told NDTV.

However back in November 2016, the same government had underscored that Aadhaar cards weren’t that necessary – that, in the absence of an Aadhaar card, a citizen could still be eligible to the government services provided he/she gave alternative proof of identification. At that time, the Minister of State for IT and Electronics, PP Chaudhary had stated, “Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, Act provides that if an Aadhaar number is not assigned to an individual, the individual shall be offered alternate and viable means of identification for delivery of the subsidy, benefit or service.”

In defiance with the Supreme Court, the government has been stealthily pushing to make the Aadhaar identification mandatory, slyly violating the Court’s ruling, targeting particularly the vulnerable groups of society – children/students, senior citizens, the economically underprivileged, and women. This is not the first time the government has announced the compulsion of having an Aadhaar Card – but its modus operandi is by strong-arming people to get it.

For instance, the Aadhaar Card has been made compulsory for school and college students who wished to be eligible for the Central Government Scholarship and National Means-cum-Merit Scholarship schemes. In addition, the Human Resource Development (HRD) Ministry announced that the students who were granted the scholarships already, but did not have the Aadhaar number, they would have to apply for the card by June 30. This compulsion echoes the step taken by the government which made the Aadhaar card necessary for those candidates who were applying for the NEET 2017 exam.

In December 2016, the government panned its lens at the senior citizens and announced that in order to be eligible for railway concessions (which ideally should be their right) on both counter and e-tickets, it was mandatory for senior citizens to have an Aadhaar card. This would be applicable from April 1, 2017.

The government intends on making the Aadhaar card compulsory for all railway ticket bookings in the coming future. Speaking on the senior citizens’ concession subject, the IRCTC Chairman A K Manocha had told PTI, “This is a most ambitious push to Aadhaar-based ecosystem in Indian Railways network that would end fraudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation. In future, all ticket bookings will require an Aadhaar card.” And that seems highly likely since there is a possibility of the Aadhaar card becoming mandatory for online ticket bookings.

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