Kerala's Sujitha is paralysed and mute, but UIDAI system cannot read fine print

Sujitha with her mother Amalu at her home

16 March 2017

George Poikayil

KASARGOD : Sujitha, 23, sits drooling on the porch secured by a wire mesh. Her paralysed hands are fisted on her lap and immobile legs rest on a low footstool.

Her mother Amalu has just left for the house of farmer Jose Augustine where she works as a domestic servant. She will return with rice gruel in the afternoon for her daughter.

Ever since the state government linked disability pension to the 12-digit unique identification number, read Aadhaar card, the duo belonging to the Mavilan Scheduled Tribe has not received the paltry amount. Last Onam, Sujitha received Rs 3,000 for July, August and September.

“Since then, we have not received pension and we are forced to run around for Aadhaar,”says Amalu, who is blind in the right eye with partial sight in the other.

In the morning, Amalu and Sujitha hailing from Thankathaduka in Karivedakam village of Kuttikol panchayat visited the Akshaya Centre for the fourth time. But it was in vain.

“They keep sending us saying the machine cannot read her fingerprints,”says Amalu, a widow.

“Her case best describes the coldness of the system,”says Augustine, whose family has been taking care of the girl. “She is paralysed waist down and her arms are of no use. She is living with mental disability.

Yet, the doctors have certified only 70 per cent disability. When I take her to hospitals, they don’t even touch her because she is drooling.”

Sujitha’s father Balan died of kidney failure nine years ago. For years, he worked as a contractual labourer in the Plantation Corporation of Kerala’s cashew plantation in Periya where endosulfan was sprayed indiscriminately. The couple’s eldest daughter Sumitha also had similar disabilities. The 11-year-old was gored to death by a bull 13 years ago.

Augustine’s sons Richard and Albert had taken Sujitha to officers to include her in the list of endosulfan victims eligible for government benefits.“They keep rejecting her application because she was born in Kuttikol, which is not among the 11 affected panchayats,” says Amalu. The government has said those outside can also apply for benefits.

UIDAI’s promise

A senior Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) officer expressed surprise at the treatment meted out to Sujitha. “There is a provision in the system for such residents,”says Surendra Babu, assistant director general in charge of Kerala at the UIDAI’s Bengaluru regional office.

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