 | *public sign on statement
do send your individual or institutional endorsementsalong with
organisational affiliations to :: *Reetika Khera <reetika.khera@gmail.com>
* Keep UID out of NREGA!*
The undersigned demand that the plan to link MGNREGA to aadhaar (or UID) be
revoked immediately. This is an extremely dangerous move that threatens to
cause havoc in MGNREGA's fragile structure.
The Ministry of Rural Development has put out a tender (dated 11 October,
2010) worth Rs. 2162 crores to engage "service providers" for MGNREGA under
a "public private partnership" model. The contract includes "UIDAI compliant
enrolment of job card holders under MGNREGA scheme", "Recording...data in
the field such as biometric attendance at worksite with GPS coordinates..and
updation of centralized MIS." and similar measures.
Clearly, the Ministry intends to link the issue of new job cards to UID
enrolment in the states. Job cards issued in 2006 are due to expire in 2011.
Job cards are required to claim employment under the MGNREGA. If the issue
of new job cards is linked to UID enrolment, there is a danger of creating a
jam that would disrupt the programme. The process of job cards renewal, in
any case a slow process, will be further slowed down. Many people are likely
to be denied their entitlement to 100 days of work as they will be without a
job card. Further, in spite of the hiring of "service providers", the
entire administrative machinery is likely to be diverted into capturing of
biometrics or supervising "service providers". The scale of MGNREGA works is
bound to suffer. This would be a gross injustice to NREGA workers, who are
already deprived of their basic entitlements.
The proposal of "biometric attendance at the worksite with GPS coordinates"
is completely impractical - many MGNREGA worksites are in remote areas with
poor or no connectivity. Does that mean those worksites will close down?
We do welcome the use of technology provided that it enhances transparency,
empowers labourers and is cost effective. Such technology has been used with
success in Tamil Nadu. For instance, it combines SMS reports on daily
attendance with random spot checks to curb the problem of fake muster roll
entries. Localized use of biometrics, independent of UID, to speed up
payments can be considered. Biometrics and UID are not the same. In
Rajasthan, simpler measures have been put in place, such as "transparency
walls" where all job card holders in the Gram Panchayat are listed along
with days of work, allowing people to monitor implementation.
There are many problems in the implementation of the MGNREGA which need the
urgent attention of the Ministry. These include the non-payment of minimum
wages, delays in wage payments, insufficient scale of MGNREGA works,
discrimination against Dalits and women, and so on.
We therefore demand that neither MGNREGA employment nor wage payments be
linked to UID enrolment. Employment of 100 days under MGNREGA is the only
universal entitlement that the rural poor enjoy. It should not be
jeopardized by the introduction of disruptive technology under pressure from
corporate and security lobbies.
*
*
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Adv Kamayani Bali Mahabal
+919820749204
skype-lawyercumactivist
The UID project is going to do almost exactly the same thing which the
predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists
of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these
lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included
racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying
them. At the United States Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an
exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible
for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.
*SAY NO TO UID CAMPAIGN- SPREAD THE WORD AND JOIN FB GROUP*
* http://www.facebook.com/l/2cf83BW3GaUHLhWY-PUHoE-QB4w;aadhararticles.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/l/2cf83hYEGtPpTsRxopYIOn3rv5w;questioningaadhaar.blogspot.com/*
http://www.facebook.com/l/2cf830eGUAc4GV6Qxj8Dzg2-ceg;www.youtube.com/my_playlists?p=B67A798223F96E73 |
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