Outdated biometrics put scores of teens at risk of losing rations in tamil nadu

CHENNAI: Thousands of teenage ration card holders in Tamil Nadu are at risk of losing access to subsidised food grains under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) as outdated Aadhaar

biometrics recorded years ago have stalled their e-KYC verification. According to official sources, most of the affected teenagers are school students aged 13 to 17 from economically

disadvantaged families. Their Aadhaar biometrics were recorded five to six years ago when they were under the age of 10 and the system now fails to recognise their fingerprints, official

sources said. Similarly, beneficiaries above the age of 70 are facing verification issues due to faded fingerprints. Despite multiple extensions of the e-KYC deadline, about 58.41 lakh out

of 3.5 crore ration card holders in the state had not completed the process as of April 30, as per a response from the Union government to _TNIE_ under the Right to Information (RTI) Act.

The centre, in its response, was non-committal on whether non-compliance would lead to the removal of beneficiaries from ration cards, which, in turn, could reduce the rice allocation to the

state. In the meantime, the state’s civil supplies department has issued lists of cards with incomplete e-KYC to fair price shops, whose staff have warned beneficiaries that failure to

authenticate Aadhaar could result in the suspension of their cards or removal of unverified members, sources said. The Aadhaar requirement for school students began informally in 2019, when

the state made it mandatory for Class I admissions across all schools. Over the years, even students of Class 2 and above were asked to submit Aadhaar details to access welfare benefits,

though there was no formal mandate.