JANUARY 14, 2018 00:01 IST
My name is Patri Venkata Manoranjan Rao. I completed 81 years on December 7, 2017. My wife Anjali Rao completed 81 years on September 19. Our elder son, Chandrasekhar, born on March 26, 1964, has been bed-ridden since birth; he is physically and mentally handicapped, his disability as certified by an official medical board being 97%. In March he will complete 54. Our younger son, Neelanjan Patri, lives with his family in the United States, as citizens of that country.
I retired as a Group Director from the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, Indian Space Research Organisation, Thiruvananthapuram on December 31, 1996. Both my wife and I obtained Aadhaar cards in 2013.
Our problem is harassment with regard to linking our Aadhaar to public and private service providers. My fingerprints cannot be authenticated. At the time of registration in 2013, cross marks, ‘X’, were shown against all my ten fingers, indicating that they cannot be authenticated. In my wife’s case, though her fingerprints were fine at the time of registration, they are now rapidly becoming “un-authenticable”. Apparently this is a part of the ageing process. I am certain that several seniors have similar problems, not to speak of those who have leprosy. Many manual labourers have similar problems.
My Aadhaar clearly shows my mobile number is 944xxxxxxx. The service provider is BSNL. In spite of clear proof in my Aadhaar, BSNL insists my mobile connection is not linked, and insists on biometric authentication, which in my case is not possible. Obviously, the data banks of BSNL and Aadhaar are not linked.
I have problems with other service providers too.
There is a lack of systems thinking in government circles. The situation would only worsen for us. Should we need to sell our house, the government would insist on biometric authentication of Aadhaar and we will be in a fix!
I appeal to the Supreme Court of India to liberate senior citizens, say of 75 years and above, from this harassment. Senior citizens should not be asked to authenticate Aadhaar using biometric data, for any purpose whatsoever. Producing a self-certified photocopy of Aadhaar should suffice.
I appreciate the need for a unique identification number for citizens, and thanks to Nandan Nilakeni for designing a good system. But senior citizens deserve to be treated with respect and consideration. Harassing them is a shame.
rao.manoranjan@gmail.com