Children's Access to Education and Welfare Variation of User Experience Across States Children miss out on mid-day meals and other welfare benefits without Aadhaar 3.3 Variation of User Experience Across States In some cases, Aadhaar affected children’s access to welfare.77 Location is one of the most significant variables in people's experience with Aadhaar Some children (8% or an estimated 15 million children) missed out on one or more mid-day meals because of difficulties with Aadhaar (see Figure 20).78 Households could also lose out on other welfare benefits when children did not have Aadhaar. Figure 21: State indices on Aadhaar user experience80 State/Union territory Aadhaar enrolment Aadhaar accuracy Ease of getting Aadhaar Aadhaar-related exclusion from services Net satisfaction with Aadhaar Andhra Pradesh 100% 99% 83% 2.7% 98% For example, in many states, all household members were Aadhaar usage varied across states by both Assam 10% 95% 42% 1.7% 69% required to provide Aadhaar to receive their full allotment of frequency of use and number of services for Bihar 89% 95% 88% 6.0% 89% PDS rations.79 which it is used. Enrolment levels, error rates, Chandigarh 99% 96% NA NA 95% ease of use, number of denials of service and Chhattisgarh 99% 99% 75% 2.0% 96% Delhi 97% 98% 77% 7.5% 99% Goa 96% 98% NA NA 50% Gujarat 97% 99% 58% 3.1% 100% Haryana 94% 96% NA NA 99% Himachal Pradesh 100% 99% NA NA 100% 84% satisfaction also varied across states. There were no overall “leaders” or “laggards”— states performed better on some metrics and worse on others (see Figure 21). Performance is bound to be influenced by factors that Jammu and Kashmir 83% 96% NA NA relate to both Aadhaar implementation (e.g., Jharkhand 87% 98% 78% 5.9% 97% number of enrolment centres) and local Karnataka 94% 91% 58% 20.8% 83% infrastructure (e.g., mobile data connectivity). Kerala 97% 94% 45% 2.2% 61% In addition, recent, highly state-specific Madhya Pradesh 78% 94% 71% 17.7% 84% activities may play a role, e.g., reactions Maharashtra 97% 98% 86% 5.1% 89% Meghalaya 39% 99% NA NA 0% Odisha 96% 95% 87% 3.1% 99% Puducherry 99% 99% NA NA 75% Punjab 97% 97% 63% 21.0% 94% to experiments with Aadhaar-linked DBT models for PDS. More research is needed to understand the drivers and implications of state-level differences. stories behind the data “The school gave my children admission on the condition that I provide an Aadhaar. I have to get it done soon.” Rajasthan 83% 94% 60% 4.4% 85% Sikkim 92% 98% NA NA 98% Tamil Nadu 97% 99% 80% 2.8% 76% Telangana 100% 87% NA NA 96% Tripura 98% 35% NA NA 65% Uttar Pradesh 91% 97% 89% 3.1% 91% Uttarakhand 85% 99% NA NA 98% West Bengal 93% 97% 93% 2.1% 89% All India average 90% 95% 79% 6.1% 89% Note: States are coloured in blue for the highest performance and red for the lowest. Aadhaar enrolment: share of people who Sneha, Daily wage labourer, Bihar have Aadhaar (SoA pulse survey 2019). Aadhaar accuracy: share of people with no error on their Aadhaar card (SoA pulse survey Sneha lives in Patna with her husband and two young children. She 2019). Ease of getting Aadhaar: share of people who attempted the process and said that enrolment and/or updates were easy (SoA tried to enrol her children in Aadhaar. She used an agent for the pulse in-depth survey 2019). Aadhaar-related exclusion from services: share of people who have experienced exclusion from PDS, enrolment process, and was charged Rs. 120. Later, she was told that MGNREGS, Social pensions, SIM card or a bank account due to Aadhaar-related reasons (SoA in-depth survey 2019). Net satisfaction her children’s fingerprint verification had failed, and when she tried with Aadhaar: share of people who were satisfied minus share of people who were dissatisfied with Aadhaar (SoA pulse survey 2019). to enrol for the second time, the agent asked her to pay once again. Sneha earned Rs. 300 for a day’s work, and could not afford to try again. While the children’s school granted them admission without an KEY FACTS Aadhaar card, Sneha worried about what would happen the next time 1. they asked for it. 65% of people mistakenly believe that providing Aadhaar is 3. mandatory by law for bank accounts, SIM cards, and school enrolment 2. Source: SoA Human Centred Design Research 2019 0.5% of 6 to 14 year olds were unable to enrol in school due to Aadhaar-related reasons 4. The Aadhaar user experience varies greatly between states More than half of those who used Aadhaar to get a SIM card or bank account said that the service provider accepted only Aadhaar for identification purposes. 75. 76. 77. 33 Rules vary: in some cases, the child’s Aadhaar was required; in others, a parent’s Aadhaar could substitute for the child’s. In most states there was little change in Aadhaar requirements for enrolment after the Supreme Court judgement. The Supreme Court ruling is less clear on questions of children’s access to welfare than on RTE. However, the spirit of the ruling and the wording of the new Aadhaar legislation can be interpreted as 78. 79. protecting children’s welfare benefits, whether or not they have Aadhaar (UIDAI. 2018). Despite UIDAI’s directive against the use of Aadhaar for mid-day meals, residents reported that some schools continue to ask for children’s Aadhaar and, in some cases, even conduct regular biometric authentication. The process of Aadhaar and ration card linking differs across states. While some states require only one or two members listed on the household’s ration card to link their Aadhaar, others require all listed members to undergo the linking. The repercussions in case of linking failure also vary by state: while some states reduce the amount of rations provided (discounting for those who failed to link), others do not penalize the household if some members have failed to link their Aadhaar. 80. Aadhaar enrolment: share of people who have Aadhaar (SoA pulse survey 2019). Aadhaar accuracy: share of people with no error on their Aadhaar card (SoA pulse survey 2019). Ease of getting Aadhaar: 34