EDITORIALS FROM 18^th Sep 2025

EDITORIAL 01

Welfare at the mercy of the machine

https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/op-ed/welfare-at-the-mercy-of-the-machine/article70061772.ece

Issue: Facial Recognition Software (FRS) has been made mandatory in Anganwadis for distribution of Take Home Rations (THR) under the Poshan Tracker App.

While aimed at preventing leakages and fake beneficiaries, this technocratic approach raises concerns of exclusion, inefficiency, and dehumanisation of frontline workers and beneficiaries.

What are the Concerns?

Technological Barriers
- Poor network connectivity, low-capacity smartphones, and frequent app crashes delay ration delivery.
- Errors in face matching force repeated attempts, frustrating both workers and women.
Administrative Burden
- Anganwadi Workers (AWWs), despite personally knowing all beneficiaries, cannot override app failures.
- They face anger from genuine beneficiaries, damaging trust at the grassroots.
Violation of Natural Justice
- Presumption that women and children may be “fake beneficiaries” contradicts the principle of innocent until proven guilty.
- Communities are treated as suspects rather than citizens.
Ignoring Core Issues
- Real problems: poor quality rations, irregular supply, stagnant budget (₹8/day since 2018), and contract corruption.
- These structural issues remain unaddressed while FRS targets a non-existent problem of fake pregnancy/child claims.
Ethical & Rights Concerns
- FRS is widely debated even in criminal investigations; some global cities (e.g., San Francisco) have banned it.
- Applying such technology on vulnerable women and children risks dignity, privacy, and fraternity.

What Needs to be Done

Community Monitoring: Local self-help groups, mahila mandals, and community audits can ensure accountability.
Decentralisation: As per Supreme Court directions (2004), production and distribution must involve SHGs, not large corporations.
Address Core Issues: Improve ration quality, supply chain reliability, budget allocation, and curb corruption.
Consultation & Training: Any digital intervention must involve AWWs’ feedback and adequate training support.
Technology as Enabler, Not Gatekeeper: Use FRS optionally, not as a pre-condition for entitlements.

The right to nutrition under NFSA, 2013 cannot be compromised for technical efficiency. Welfare delivery should uphold dignity over data, fraternity over fragmentation, and authenticity over authentication. As Vonnegut’s caution reminds us, women and children must not become experimental subjects in an “engineer’s paradise.”

EDITORIAL 02

A judicial nudge following stuck legislative business