With five States set to go to the polls this month, the Right to Food Campaign has decided to raise the mandatory requirement of Aadhaar for availing social benefits an electoral issue.
‘Amend Aadhaar Act’
“We intend to go to all political parties with a single agenda on Aadhaar, demanding that the Aadhaar Act be amended so that the mandatory or compulsory use of Aadhaar is prohibited,” the Right to Food campaign and a clutch of associated social sector groups said in a joint statement.
The groups contend that the imposition of mandatory Aadhaar has led to extreme distress and even death in many cases.
In places like Rajasthan and Jharkhand, where biometric authentication has been made mandatory for accessing National Food Security Act benefits, lakhs of people have been affected, the activists said.
“We intend to ask people on the ground who have been the victims of this huge experiment to make it clear during the elections that they will target parties who have thrust the mandatory use of Aadhaar upon them,” the groups said in the statement.