NEW DELHI: Anjali Bhardwaj, Nikhil Dey, Dipa Sinha and Amrita Johri, all activists or academics of some repute, on Thursday wrote to Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), expressing dismay over his response to their findings that the mandatory introduction of Aadhaar has caused large-scale exclusion of the most vulnerable to such social benefits as monthly rations from the Public Distribution System. The four activists sought that Pandey engage in a public discussion with them.

The Narendra Modi government appears to have scant regard for accuracy of data it puts out. Questioning Prime Minister Modi’s claims during his Independence Day address, The Telegraph of Kolkata wrote on Wednesday: “It is not clear who estimated the quantum of post-demonetization black money deposits at Rs 2 lakh crore when the RBI has not yet counted the money and the tax-filing window for the financial year 2016-17 still remains open. The cash deposited can be characterized as black money only when these deposits are matched with tax filings.”

The lackadaisical approach of the ruling dispensation even to matters that cause loss of life was evident when Amit Shah , president of India’s ruling party, said in response to the death of over 100 children at a government hospital in Gorakhpur, “In this big country, there have been many tragedies and this is not the first time.”

On August 10, the media reported that Pandey found the activists acting out of “malafide intent.” He said that the claim that Aadhaar was responsible for denial is “misconstrued”.

The four signatories to the letter, who represent Satark Nagrik Sanghatan, Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, Right to Food Campaign and Delhi Rozi Roti Adhikaar Abhiyan, had held a press conference on August 8 showing that there was no official data to back the claim made by PM Modi in Parliament on February 7 this year that nearly four crore bogus ration cards had been detected through use of technology and Aadhaar.

Statistics from July 2017 on the website of the Food Department of Rajasthan showed there was a 33% exclusion from rations – only 67% of NFSA ration card holders were able to procure rations that month. A survey by IIT Delhi and Ranchi University students showed that quantity fraud, higher transaction costs and outright exclusion had occurred in the aftermath of the introduction of Aadhaar in the PDS in Jharkhand .

At the press conference, homeless people from Delhi offered testimonies to show that they have been unable to access ration entitlements since the introduction of Aadhaar. Some of them had also filed affidavits in the Delhi high court.

“We see it as our duty to put this information in the public domain and hope the government officials, such as yourself, will take cognizance and immediately find a remedy,” the letter said. “Unfortunately, you have been reported as questioning our presentation … We would like to know what you base your comments upon, including having determined the malafide nature of our intent,” the letter says, adding that evidence of Aadhaar-induced suffering was present in other parts of the country too, but the discussion was limited to Jharkhand, Rajasthan and Delhi because there were official statistics to back the findings in these states.

Pandey had said that any denial of rations because of the inability to authenticate biometrics for Aadhaar was “a violation of instructions” and such violators would be punished. The letter writers say that even they would not know where to go in such a situation, and would like information on how many violators had been punished, and what the punishment was.

The activists sought public discussion of this issue. “We would appreciate if you would also invite us to the public discussion so we could present our findings. In any case we would like to organize a public dialogue which we would like to request you to attend,” they said.

