A Day at the Adhar Queue

A Day at the Adhar Queue

It was a typical January morning at Ayroor a small rustic village in Pathanamthitta District in Kerala. Many would associate a January morning with blankets and sweaters but here in Kerala it is a different story. It was hot and humid with the mercury touching 33 degrees. It seemed so unfair when the rest of the country was inside blankets, that here wearing a shirt itself seemed to be a torture. Unfair, is what I felt when I had to spend a day of my meager and hard earned leave to get registered for the Adhar card.

Adhar, an ambitious project of the Government of India, touted as a project that will change the face of this country. Many parallels has been drawn with the Social Security Number that is in existence US and many developed countries where an individual gets tagged to a 10 or 16 digit number. But the comparison stops there. Tagging a citizen and all about him is no mean task in a country where most of its citizens live below the poverty line and more than half of its population does not even know how to read and write. In fact, one if left to ponder whether this multi billion project is the real need of India today. Will tagging a poor man who owns under Rs 22 a day, as below poverty line as per the strange definitions of the Government of India provide him the food that he needs to feed him and his family. Or will it eradicate the caste based imbalanced and injustices prevailing in this country? Surely, the authorities must think so. Otherwise, why would they attempt something like this at such a hurry?

The process of getting an Adhar card is very simple. All you need is an address proof and an ID proof. You need to enter all your details in the form given, stand in a queue, give your finger prints, get your retina scanned and viola, you are done!!! Easy ain’t it? Well it looks good in paper. In a country of 1 Billion people, it is no mean task. Queues can tend to be very long, and confusions galore. In fact, the government agencies also seem to be confused as to what are the uses of Adhar and as to why the common man must be getting himself tagged. In fact the sheer number of "cards" that is there issued by the Government is a clear indication of the confusion of the Government and the ego clashes between the different ministries within the Government. Each ministry seems to be keen on having its own "card". Gone are the days where a simple ration card was enough a  proof of your identity. Now there is a PAN Card, Voters ID Card, NPR Card, Adhar Card and the list goes on.

The queue was not very long at the Akshaya Center in the sleepy town of Plankamon. About 30 people had queued up, those lucky ones who has taken their token numbers in advance. I was approximately 25th in the line. Cursing my luck I stood in the line. People from all walks of life  was  in the queue. The young and the old, the educated and the uneducated, the rich and the poor were all in that line. In front of me was Chandran an auto rickshaw driver from the nearby town of Kozencherry has come here to get registered as he thought the queue would be shorter here that at his hometown.

Plankamon is a small agricultural town. In fact it is so small with a few shops that seems frozen in time that it can be better termed as a junction than a town. The whole area of Ayroor and the nearby village of Ranni is primarily an agricultural region. In the earlier days, these villages had different cultivations that include sugarcane, tapioca, coconuts, bananas, rice and many more. Our fore fathers worked in this land and reaped gold out of it. They worked till their backs broke and they educated their children. They sent them to good schools, gave them good education all with the hope that their children will have a good future, And indeed it did happen. But it came at a cost. The educated children did not want to do agriculture any more. They moved to cities and far off countries like US, Europe and Gulf while their parents stayed back. Hence, the towns look deserted. The once bustling towns look sleepy. The villages seems to be filled with the old and the young is nowhere to be found. I am no exception. I also come here only on holidays. Just like a tourist. What a tragedy. They say that home is where the heart is. By that definition, Ayroor is where my home is. I cannot associate myself to belong to any other place in the world. The real tragedy is when that ceases. The real tragedy is when the future generations fail to associate themselves with this place and the sacrifices and hard work made by their forefathers.

It takes around 25 minutes to complete one registration of Adhar which includes finger print recording and retina scanning. The officer was doing a real commendable job working with virtually no breaks. In spite of her commitment and best efforts the queue was moving very slow. Almost all in the queue were from Ayroor and hence knew each other. Mr Varghese a Gulf returnee is still not sure as to how Adhar is going to benefit him. He is engaged in a conversation with Mr Nair a retired government employee. They talk about the Goonda culture in Kerala and the "Quotation Gangs" that runs. They feel that the society in Kerala has become compartmentalized and everyone confined to the affairs of his home and not bothered about the society at large. They are reminded of those golden days of their youth when people used to respond to the needs of the society. I have to agree to their view that such "Quotation Gangs" cannot have any rule in a place where people collectively respond to such ails. But I guess such a Kerala exists only in stories today.

Through the Adhar scheme government is trying to get rid of all middlemen involved in all subsidy related transactions in the country. Presently, the cooking gas distribution centers, ration distribution centers etc holds the trump in the distribution of subsidized commodities. Wide spread corruption with one person holding multiple ration cards, gas connections etc is a head ache for the government. The government plans to transfer the subsidy amount in cash directly to the citizen's bank account thereby eliminating the middle men involved. However, does this involve real elimination of middlemen or it is shifting to a new different set of middle men who in fact are the most corrupt lot in the country? I am talking about the entire bureaucrats here. What if the same corruption and misuse happens through this new set of middlemen? They do not have such a good track record any way. What if the same problems of multiple ration cards and gas connections still continue? All if needs is multiple Adhar cards and it is surely easy with the able support of a corrupt bureaucracy

Its 12:00PM which means I am standing in the queue for more than 2 hours. In the line is an old 88 year old man Mr. Thomas. I have known him from the time I can remember. I remember his press "Ebenezer" which had stood the test of time. But time does change a man. I am seeing him after a good 10 years. My memories of him were of a man always in his white "mundu" and white sleeveless banian in his press. Everything in his press seemed to be old. The old fan which was once white looks pale yellow. The colour is not just because of the age of the fan but also the pale yellow light coming from the 40 Watt bulb. Every book in my house was bound by him. I remember going to his press with my grandmother to bind old bibles, novels and other books. He even bound books which were half eaten by termites. He reminds me of things that remain forever. Neither the weather, nor time nor the new technologies have changed him and his press. It stood the test of time as a testimony to those things which holds fort come what may. But time has changed him. He has grown old and has difficulty in walking. He is finally closing down his press for good as he like all the others in his village has worked hard, educated his children. They are now in different parts of the world and have no desire to come and run their ancestral press.

He was engrossed in a conversation with a young man in the queue. They say that you lose your ability to lie as you grow old. This is the reason why many children would want to vanish from the face of the earth when their old parents talk. However, listening to Mr. Thomas talk, I am sure his children will be proud. I guess this is a measure of a good life. At the fag end of your life as you grow old, will your children feel proud when you talk or would they squirm in their seats on seeing their parents talk. He was a good man.

I began to wonder why am I standing in this queue. What benefit am I going to get? Frankly, I don’t have an answer. I guess, the only reason is that I am a law abiding citizen and want to make every attempt to follow the law. One of the main reasons why many are in the queue is that going forward the gas subsidies will get transferred directly to the Adhar card holders account. In fact the process has already started. So the citizen will get a gas cylinder at Rs 1000 instead of Rs 480 if he does not get registered at Adhar. Mrs Indira, a house wife says that her neighbor has travelled back and forth between the gas agency and the Akshaya center 5 times to get her gas connection subsidized through Adhar. Other than this, no one in the queue had any reason to stand at that queue. In fact not a single soul in that line including me believed that this will make a paisa's worth of difference to their life.

Its 1:00PM and it is time for lunch for the official. She was a sincere government employee and promised that she will be back in 10 minutes after lunch quite contrary to the lunch breaks that lasts the whole afternoon which I have seen in different government offices. I did not go for lunch as I am now the first in the queue and as she promised she was back  in 10 mins. "Hmm", I thought. "There are atleast some officers that are sincere". When would you call a whole class of people corrupt? I would do so when a whole majority of them are corrupt that it legitimates the usage of such a sweeping statement. By that definition, calling the political class and the bureaucracy as corrupt is a fair statement in the country that we live in. In such a reality, will an Adhar scheme bring any change when the one agency that is to bring sanctity to the scheme itself is corrupt to the core? The work of one or maybe handful of sincere officers like the one here will get drowned.

This brings about a larger question into the picture. What is needed in this country? Do we need stronger laws, like what was demanded after the Delhi rape case? Do we need a Lokpal or do we need better systems as an Adhar would do? What if we bring all of this in this country? Will this change anything? What if Lokpal itself is corrupt? What if stronger laws gets misused by those in power? What if corrupt government officers misuse Adhar?

Organization use a widely accepted term called organizational culture. Organizational culture talks about certain practices that gets followed in everything that the organization does that it is a part  of the DNA of the organization. Similarly every country has a culture, which are a set of practices that cuts across every class of people and everything that gets done in the country. Sadly, over the past 66 years of independence corruption has become a part of the culture of our country. It is rampant at levels of power and that is why it is more prevalent in the political class and the bureaucracy. Culture cannot be changed by new laws and new structures. Organizations spend crores in trying to change its culture. It brings in consultants, does trainings, workshops and many more participative activities to attempt to change the culture. Culture change is always participative in nature. It cannot be done with an iron hand. It needs the buy in of all those involved. Resistance to this change has to be addressed. Concerns of employees have to be addressed. Once this is achieved new processes and system gets implemented to support the new culture. Most importantly cultural changes take time. The more the time the organization has been in a certain culture, the more the time it takes to change it.

This is exactly what me must strive as a country. Before bringing in new systems, what is needed is a sincere coordinated effort to change our culture of corruption. This includes both giving and receiving bribes and favours. Our government and our leaders must strive for this change in culture and we must be ready for the long haul. No band aid solutions are there. The culture of corruption that took 66 years to be at what it is will not vanish by the wave of a band. No magic laws or systems can change it. It needs the long sustained activity of culture change starting from those in power to the common man.

Finally it is my turn. The official takes my photograph. I feel like a criminal whose photograph is taken for criminal records. My finger prints are taken, my retina is scanned. I got a feeling that I am trapped for life. I am skeptical if this will do me any good. Will the corrupt agencies wrongfully use this data against me? I am not sure. Nor is anyone. And no one seems to have any answer. In fact, in a democracy, it is the duty of the government to bring its people into confidence before they launch something as path breaking as this. But as typical with the new style of governance in India, the Government refuses to talk to its people. The intentions of those in leadership in this country might be entirely noble, but they also have the moral duty to communicate it effectively to its citizens. The behavior of the government is of blatant arrogance and seems to go on with its activities as if the citizens do not exist.

They say that all that is needed for a bloody revolution and anarchy is a corrupt and arrogant leadership and an impatient young generation of sizable number that does not believe in that leadership. Examples are there in the history books. What we have seen in Egypt, what happened during the French revolution are just some examples. We are a country at the threshold. I really hope that history does not repeat itself. I hope this for the sake of this country and for our future generations. The beautiful idea called India that was visioned by our founding fathers cannot go waste. It is not late. In fact it is never late. Everyone has a role to play. But any change must be championed by the leadership. Out political class must change first and champion the change. If not for the country, they must do it for themselves. If not their existence is at stake. From them it must drill down to those in power and then down below to its people. Only then not only new laws and systems like Adhar, Lokpal etc but also existing laws will have any meaning in this country. The change has to be top down. It means nothing short of a revolution if the change is bottoms up in nature, i.e the citizens changing it leaders. It certainly is not the best option.

I have finally registered myself for Adhar. It’s been a long day and I am tired, vanquished and hungry. I also have a sense of accomplishment even though I do not know for what. I really hope that I will get an answer to that some day.