Rajasthan's Social Security Pension: 'E-KYC Hurdles Are Leaving Elderly Out'

To benefit from the scheme, beneficiaries must link their Aadhaar and Jan Aadhaar, the state's ID card.

To avail of the scheme’s benefits, it is essential for beneficiaries to have both an Aadhaar and a Jan Aadhaar.

(Photo: The Quint/Aroop Mishra)

Koshalya, who lives in Rawatmal village in Rajasthan's Beawar district, is a person with intellectual disability. Although the 48-year-old is eligible for the state government's disability pension, she stopped receiving the benefits after the state government made e-KYC mandatory for pensions in 2022.

Her brother Nenu Singh tells me, "My sister and my 15-year-old son are both persons with intellectual disability. We depend on my meagre agricultural income to feed my family of six. It is difficult to bear their medical expenses without the pension.”

Under Rajasthan government's social security pension scheme, persons who are "unable to earn a livelihood" are eligible for "monthly pensions as minimum means of survival". This includes the elderly, disabled, and destitute.

However, to avail of the scheme’s benefits, it is mandatory for beneficiaries to have both their Aadhaar and Jan Aadhaar, the state’s identification card, linked to each other. Additionally, beneficiaries need a bank account, and a mobile number associated with these cards.

'The Adverse Effect of Digitisation'

Following his brother’s death in 2022, Nenu Singh was forced to leave his job and stay at home to take care of Koshalya. Then, her pension was discontinued, placing significant financial strain on the family, he explains.

"In the past 18 months, I've had to take loans totaling Rs 6 lakh by mortgaging all our family jewellery. Additionally, I've had to borrow from neighbours occasionally. I haven't been able to pay my two daughters' school fees for the past 10 months, and the 10 kg of rations we receive monthly from ration shops is insufficient to feed our entire family."

Nenu Singh, Koshalya's Brother

Despite Koshalya’s condition, Nenu Singh had to take her to Delhi to get her Aadhaar made. "While I somehow managed to get her Aadhaar made at a centre in Delhi's Inderlok, I'm not able to get her Jan Aadhaar made due to the biometric issue," said Singh.

Several NGOs and social activists have raised this issue with the Rajasthan government. Shankar Singh, an activist working with Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan, told me:

“Ever since the pensions have been linked with Aadhaar and Jan Aadhaar, the beneficiaries who do not have these cards, have been excluded from the system. Those who have them need to get an annual verification done at their nearest e-Mitra centre which requires their biometric. If due to any reason their biometric does not match, they stop 'existing' for the system – and are marked ‘dead’ or ‘out of state’ in records, thereby cancelling their pension."

The mismatch could be a result of age-related infirmities like shaky hands and unstable posture – like in the case of Koshalya's.

Before digitisation, pensions were distributed to beneficiaries via the postal system, requiring only various government-issued ID cards as proof.

"Koshalya used to get Rs 750 per month. It's not a big amount, but with whatever little support we were getting, we were able to fulfill her medical needs," Singh adds.

'The Last in Line Are Being Pushed Out'

Eighty-year-old Sohni Devi, too, has stopped receiving her Rs 500 monthly pension since February 2022.

Her grandson Dinesh has been making the rounds of the BDO (block development officer) office at Bhim tehsil in Rajasthan's Rajsamand district for months but to no avail.

Upon enquiring, Dinesh discovered that Sohini Devi had been declared 'dead' in government records because she could not complete her annual online Aadhaar verification.

Both Dinesh and his wife are persons with disabilities. Dinesh has a physical disability, while his wife has visual and hearing impairment. He used to work at a factory for Rs 5,000 per month but has been out of job for one and a half months ago after the factory was shut down.

The couple's disability pensions, along with Sohini Devi's old age pension, sustained the household. However, with Sohini Devi's pension now completely stopped, the family is facing severe financial distress.

Dinesh told me that he has taken loans worth Rs 60,000-70,000 just for the family’s survival. “Our problems are permanent. The moment we think one problem is over, another starts,” he laments.

Activist Shankar Singh adds, "These schemes are meant for the last persons in the line, but it's them who are getting pushed out of the welfare system.”

Acknowleding the problem, BDO Balram Meena of Beawar district tells me, "The number of people without an Aadhaar or a Jan Aadhaar card or with incomplete verification are mostly old people." However, she adds, "We have already sent the list of these people to the Social Justice and Empowerment Department in Jaipur. We do not have the power to do anything beyond this. The state government is working on it. The beneficiaries will start receiving their pension soon.”

'What About the Lost Pension?'

Dhapu Devi, a 95-year-old resident of Kaladeh village in Rajsamand district, who has not received her old age pension since digitisation in 2022, has recently been assured by the authorities that her pension will be restarted soon.

The BDO of Bhim tehsil, under which her village falls, has initiated the process of creation of her Aadhaar card. But her grandson Santosh has just one question, “What about the two years' worth of pension we didn’t receive? Who will tell us how a living person can be marked dead in records?”

Development Economist Dipa Sinha alleges the allocation for the scheme has remained stagnant over the years regardless of the increase in inflation and in the number of beneficiaries, which has resulted in the striking out of some people to keep the overall expenditure same. 

However, in the process, many of the genuine beneficiaries have been removed. “Social security pensions are for the most vulnerable people, for whom it is usually the only source of income and hence, even if it is a very small number, it should not be happening,” she says.

The Quint reached out to Avinash Gehlot, Rajasthan's Social Justice and Empowerment Minister, on this issue. Despite multiple attempts, he was unavailable to speak to us.

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