PAC lens on EC's SIR drive, fake ID cards
NEW DELHI: The SIR exercise in Bihar and the issue of official documents like voter ID and Aadhaar card being obtained by alleged infiltrators figured in Public Accounts Committee (PAC) meeting Thursday, with several BJP MPs expressing concern over benefits of welfare schemes being availed by ineligible people.
The PAC, headed by Congress MP K C Venugopal, also deliberated on 'functioning of UIDAI', with a few members suggesting a simpler procedure to effect changes in erroneous Aadhaar details, which deny people access to what's their due, including govt benefits.
'Documents like voter ID and Aadhaar are given to citizens and not residents... The matter was raised and a suggestion made that ineligible cardholders should be identified,' a senior member said, citing the process until 2023 under which a certificate from panchayat head was enough to procure Aadhaar or voter ID.
A few members said Special Intensive Revision (SIR) in Bihar was an exercise being conducted in earnest, as it is in interest of the country if the ineligible are identified. BJP MPs Ravi Shankar Prasad, Nishikant Dubey, Anurag Thakur, Tejaswi Surya, L Laxman, and Congress' Jai Prakash and Shaktisinh Gohil were among those who attended the meeting. The BJP MPs said a large number of ineligible people, especially suspected infiltrators, had obtained the unique identity before the application rules were made stringent and sought a review of their bona fides, sources said.
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An MP claimed Aadhaar serves as 'backdoor' entry for people with suspect citizenship to get a raft of official documents, including voter ID and passport, while others spoke of the presence of alleged infiltrators in Karnataka, Bihar and Jharkhand.
Sources said some MPs were of the view that since Aadhaar is considered a residency proof and does not certify Indian citizenship, authorities need to reconsider if it alone should be the basis for identifying people eligible for welfare schemes.
Without getting into details of the committee's deliberations, Venugopal said Aadhaar is a 'common man issue' and many questions had been raised and suggestions made.
At the meeting, attended by officials of ministry of electronics and information technology and UIDAI, a few members highlighted difficulties faced by Aadhaar cardholders in redress of their gri-evances, as at times biometric details do not match for a variety of reasons, or other details are erroneous.
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