Nandan Nilekani, the Chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, (UIDAI) hopes that Aadhaar card and rural mobile telephony will bring transformation in rural India, but the cards being issued at times spot some real gaffe.
Here is one case. A coriander plant in rural Andhra Pradesh received its unique identification number and of course a card for itself with the photo of a mobile phone.
An Aadhaar card with number : 4991 1866 5246 was issued in the name of Mr Kothimeer (Coriander), Son of Mr Palav (Biryani), Mamidikaya Vuru (Village Raw Mango), of Jambuladinne in Anantapur district. As the card displayed the photo of a mobile phone, officials have no clue of the address where the card has to be delivered.
“We have completed all formalities, got ourselves photographed almost an year ago after standing in the long lines for days but haven’t received the card so far. The Kothimeer is lucky,” said an old man at the Jambuladinne Panchayat office.
“It’s probably the work of a young man who wanted to tell us how routine the process of data collection was in villages. The private agencies entrusted with the job have no understanding of the job in hand,” fumed Payyavula Keshav, a TDP MLA from Anantapur district.
However, revenue officials said they would trace out the agency that completed the enumeration work in Jambuladinne to pinpoint the responsibility of issuing a card to a mobile phone named Coriander.
Considering the delay in issuing Aadhar cards and other discrepancies, the UIDAI announced recently that it would soon send the Aadhaar numbers through SMS. The authority hopes that villagers could go ahead and avail social benefits before the actual card reaches their households.