June 24, 2025
NEW DELHI – Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Monday criticised the government’s increasing reliance on technology in implementing social welfare schemes, saying it is depriving marginalised communities of their rightful benefits.
In a post on handle X, Ramesh stated, “The Modi government is systematically using technology to deprive the most deprived sections of the country of the rights they receive under social welfare schemes.”
Ramesh further pointed out that the use of Aadhaar had previously led to the exclusion of workers from MNREGA and that acid attack survivors had to fight in court to get their names added to Aadhaar.
“Now, pregnant women have been faced with yet another hurdle — face recognition technology (FRT) has now been made mandatory to avail of the basic and legal rights under the National Food Security Act (NFSA),” he pointed out.
The 365th report of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Child, Youth and Sports highlighted the challenges faced by pregnant and lactating women under the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana due to the implementation of Aadhaar-based payment systems (ABPS). The report noted a significant decline in beneficiaries, from 96 lakh in 2019-20 to just 27 lakh in 2023-24.
Expressing concerns about the potential biases of FRT, citing evidence around the world that such techniques discriminate on the basis of skin, colour, and class, Ramesh also highlighted the failures of Aadhaar-based payment systems and the National Mobile Monitoring System app.
“The aim of Digital India should be empowerment and not snatching away rights. Speech is about inclusion, behavior is about exclusion – this should not be the case,” Ramesh said, urging the government to reassess its approach to digital inclusion.