A day after the Jharkhand government launched universal pension scheme in the state, a survey by Khadya Suraksha Manch (an outfit to ensure Food Security Act implementation) in the first week of November has found several elderly people were denied of their pension because of errors in the Aadhaar card in the rebel-hit district of West Singhbhum.

“We had done a public hearing in February-March this year and identified nearly 213 such elderly people from 12 blocks of the West Singhbhum who had not been receiving their entitled pension as their age mentioned in Aadhaar card was below 60 years. We had approached the district administration. But so far they are yet to receive their pension benefits. We did a survey in few blocks of West Singhbhum and found the elderly living a pitiable life due to lack of social security pensions,” said Sandeep Pradhan, a member of the Manch and a native of Sonua block in West Singhbhum.

The Manch did a survey again in November first week in nine blocks of the district. “It was not a very exhaustive survey but still we could identify over 60 such instances of the elderly who were not able to apply for pension as their age had been erroneously entered in the Aadhaar card showing them less than the required age,” Pradhan said.

The survey was done in some of the worst Left Wing Extremism affected areas of the district namely — Sonua, Gudri, Goelkera, Chakradharpur, Hatgamharia, Khuntpani, Chaibasa Sadar, Bandhgaon and Tonto.

“I do not know how my age is mentioned as 38. My youngest son is more than that age. They have all gone to work in other states and I have to work in other fields to eke out a living somehow,” said Ghanshyam Gunda (who claims to be above 70), a native of Golasai village under Asantliya panchayat in Sonua block of the West Singhbhum district.

Similar is the case of Jano Kui (she claims to be over 70) a native of Sarandiya village in Hatgamharia block of the West Singhbhum district but her age is mentioned as 35 in the Aadhaar card.

“It is ironic that these elderly might not even survive till the age of 60 if one goes by the Aadhaar card records, to get their pension. We are surprised that despite several high courts orders (most recent being Punjab and Haryana High Court decision on September 2021) that Aadhaar card cannot be used as proof of age, these beneficiaries are deprived of their pensions,” said Siraj Dutta, a Right To Food activist based in Ranchi.

The activist claimed that the process to correct the age in the Aadhaar card is a difficult one. “It is not an easy task to correct entries in Aadhaar card as these elderly do not have documents like proper birth records to submit in the UIDAI portal for correction. The government and the UIDAI should coordinate to find out a solution as we feel that similar cases will be present in other districts too,” added Dutta.

The Manch members suggested that the government should host camps in each block to correct age after verification by mukhiyas or village heads for those elderly who do not have proper birth records.