Lokayat Organises Book Release Function and Seminar on Nuclear Energy

Title of book: NUCLEAR ENERGY: Technology from Hell
Author: Neeraj Jain
Published by: AAKAR BOOKS, Delhi
450 pages, Price Rs. 295

The government of India is attempting to set up a string of nuclear plants across the country, with imported and indigenous reactors, and also start several uranium mines. People everywhere, from Kudankulam, Jaitapur, Mithivirdi, Gorakhpur to Jadugoda and Gogi, are fighting these projects.

The government is deriding these movements as being anti-development, and the country’s top scientists and leading intellectuals are claiming that nuclear energy is clean, green, cheap and safe, and is the solution to the country’s future energy needs.

In reality, nuclear energy is none of these. Nuclear energy is very expensive. Neither is it green and the sustainable solution to the energy crisis. But the biggest problem with nuclear energy are the safety issues associated with it -the deathly radioactive pollution of the environment caused by leakage of radiation from the mines and nuclear reactors, the as yet intractable problem of safe storage of high level wastes, and the potential for catastrophic accidents. For these reasons, nuclear energy was already in decline the world over, the Fukushima accident has sent it into a tailspin.

Discussing the problems of nuclear energy in depth, and giving alternate sustainable solutions to the energy crisis in the country, Neeraj Jain has written a book, NUCLEAR ENERGY : TECHNOLOGY FROM HELL. The book release function of this book is being organised on Saturday, January 21, 2012. On this occasion, Lokayat has organised a SEMINAR on Nuclear energy. The details of the program are as below:

SPEAKERS:
Justice P. B. Sawant, Retd. Justice, Supreme Court of India
Bhai Vaidya, former Home Minister, Maharashtra State
Prof. Sulabha Brahme, noted economist

Date: January 21, 2012
Time: 5.30 to 8 pm
Venue: Bharat Itihas Sanshodhak Mandal, Near Bharat Natya Mandir, Sadashiv Peth, Pune.

COMMENDATION OF BOOK BY PRAFUL BIDWAI:

Nuclear power is the greatest energy fraud ever played upon the world. Inherently and unacceptably unsafe, it leaves behind radioactive poisons for thousands of years, besides exposing people to hazards at each step of the nuclear fuel chain. It is unaffordably costly, predatory upon public funds, and locks the energy system into the wrong trajectory. This book is a scathing, well-documented, passionate critique of the nuclear industry. Analysts and activists will find it valuable at a time of growing popular resistance to nuclear reactors at Kudankulam, Jaitapur and other sites.

Praful Bidwai, Columnist, former Senior Editor of The Times of India,

and author of The Politics of Climate Change and the Global Crisis: Mortgaging Our Future

COMMENDATION OF BOOK BY MADHU BHADURI, IFS

Exceptionally well researched … systematically uncovers many lies of the powerful nuclear lobby in India and abroad in its claim that nuclear energy is safe, clean and green. The facts presented in a simple and straight forward way reveal instead how dangerous and destructive it is…

The author marshals evidence from many diverse sources … to make the powerful case that nuclear reactors are devastatingly unsafe. Indeed, so unsafe that without government guarantees they cannot be insured. No wonder the Indian government kept its nuclear program in a totally non-transparent wrap of official secrecy … This book cogently argues and compels the reader to agree that neither economic logic nor concern for the environment but the power of vested interest alone has forced decision makers to opt for nuclear energy … a must read to illuminate one of the most important debates of our time.

Madhu Bhaduri, IFS, former Ambassador of India to several countries,

was associated with the Indian mission to the IAEA, Vien

Related articles

• Is there a future for nuclear energy? (earthtimes.org)
• Fukushima… everything under control? (thebovine.wordpress.com)
• Does the world need nuclear energy? (greenanswers.com)

Adivasis: Betrayed by successive governments and parties

 

Image via Wikipedia

NEW DELHI, 17/1/2012 – A delegation comprising Adivasi leaders and NGOs working for the cause of Adivasi welfare has demanded Union Finance Minister Pranabh Mukharjee for more allocation of funds in forthcoming budget towards Adivasis’ welfare.

The Adivasi Adhikar Rashtriya Manch and the Campaign for Survival and Dignity jointly met Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to raise issues about budgetary allocations for Adivasis as well as issues relating to forestry programmes.

Speaking to Newzfirst, Mr. Shankar Gopalkrishnan, secretary of Campaign for Survival and Dignity said, “We have two concerns, more budgetary allocation and the evolution of a mechanism to ensure the proper utilization of those funds, as it is not being spent appropriately for the desired objectives.”

“Nothing much, except the creation of illusion, has been done for Adivasis by the governments so far.” he added.

Delegation has urged Finance Minister for more allocation especially towards major schemes like food subsidy, MSP for minor forest products, debt relief, student stipends, ITI and Vocational training.

Adivasis constitute about 8.08% of the total population in India. These more than eight crore Adivasis consist of some of the most oppressed and exploited sections of our society.

Traditionally in tribal society, land was not a commodity for sale. There was no concept of private property in land in most tribal communities.

A big section of the tribal people has been traditionally living in the forests and their life and work is intimately connected with the forest. The most tragic aspect of tribal life has been the alienation of the tribal people from their traditional habitat. Forests no longer belong to them but to the forest officials and contractors.

15% of the tribal population have been displaced or affected by development projects. The uprooting of the tribal people from their homes and habitat for building dams and other industrial development projects has nearly destroyed the Tribals.

In the tribal areas in remote hilly and forest regions, the vulnerability of tribal people to hunger and starvation has increased exponentially with the collapse of the Public Distribution System

Most tribal people deprived of their traditional means of livelihood, land and forests, are totally dependent on cheap food through the PDS schemes.

Reports of deaths due to hunger and malnutrition emanate mainly from the tribal areas, whether it be in Orissa, Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh or Rajasthan.

One of the major problems for the tribal people is the exploitation by money lenders. Once they get into the vicious cycle of usury they end up as bonded labourers.

The successive Governments and all Political Parties have only paid lip service and have done very little to alleviate the condition of the Tribals.

The mandatory requirement is that 8.5 per cent of the total budgetary allocations should be made for the Tribal Sub Plan; however the allocations as well as the expenditures in consecutive budgets have missed the mandatory requirement by a huge margin.

In the last budget, the expenditure and allocation for the Tribal Sub Plan, comes to around 5.6 percent of the budget.

Even in this 5.6% only a quarter i.e. 25% of the allocation is for schemes which have a 100 per cent allocation for tribals and the remaining 75% are in respect of General Schemes in which 20 per cent allocation is for the tribals.

The total Budget Support for Central Plan was Rs. 335521. Crores, Total Allocation for the Tribal Sub Plan is Rs. 18, 625.91; This is just 5.6 per cent of the budget as against the mandatory requirement of 8.5%.

Schemes with 100 per cent allocations for tribals amount to Rs. 4732.51 which as percentage of the Tribal Sub Plan is 25%.

As a percentage of Total Central Plan Budget it is only is 1.41%.

The allocation for General Schemes in which 20 per cent allocation is for the tribals comes to around Rs. 13,893 Crores which as percentage of Tribal Sub Plan is 75 %.

There is no Central monitoring body or annual public reports on the Tribal Sub Plan. The allocations are misused as a routine with smart accounting.

According to the Campaign for Survival and Dignity The Ministry for School Education and Literacy has shown 128 crores Rupees expenditure for STs in the programme to set up 6000 Schools at block level as benchmarks of excellence. But on the ground both the percentage of beneficiaries and the actual amount spent in tribal areas seems far lower than 20 percent. In fact there are very few such schools in tribal blocks.

It is the same situation with all the flagship schemes of the Government be it the ICDS allocations, the Mid-Day meal scheme allocations or the Health Allocations. None of the Ministries have calculated what 20 per cent of the allocations would be and put the figure nor the No of beneficiaries belonging to the Tribals who are benefitting from the General Schemes.

The schemes of the Government for the Tribals under the Tribal Sub Plan are a mockery of their plight.

In the budget speech 2011 the Finance Minister allocated 200 crore rupees for the afforestation programmes. The entire amount was allocated through the MOEF. However the Tribals complain that this afforestation program is often used to plant trees on tribal land to deprive tribals of their rights under Forest Act. Often the species of trees planted are destructive of ground water levels and equally important, the trees do not provide livelihood opportunities for tribals.

The Tribals require a far increased allocation in specific areas which will change their living conditions, The Adivasis and the Scheduled Tribes are the most malnourished communities in India yet the Government has not made all of them eligible for BPL subsidies. Automatic inclusion of all ST communities in BPL lists with the requisite budgetary allocations, from within the Tribal Sub Plan can go a long way in reducing malnourishment.

A guaranteed central scheme for expanding government procurement and guaranteeing a minimum support price for minor forest produce including medicinal plants, increase in students stipends, setting up of vocational training centres in tribal blocks.

The allocations of funds should be given under the joint jurisdiction of the Tribal Affairs Ministry, the Panchayat Raj Ministry along with MOEF to ensure that the provisions of the Forest Rights Act are complied with and the rights and powers of forest dwelling communities respected.

What is required is a strict monitoring process to ensure that the Tribal Sub Plan is not reduced to a farce by showing inflated expenditure spent on the Tribals.

Harassment of Dayamani Barla (Jharkhand) by local police

Image by Joe Athialy via Flickr

On 14th January, in the evening, a Police Mobile Van of Chutya Thana (Ranchi) landed at her hotel on Club Road, Ranchi, and started to harass her staff asking about her links with anti-social elements. The Sub-Inspector making the ‘enquiries’ had neither no written permission or order. The following day, when Ms. Barla, met SSP Ranchi, Mr. Saket Kumar at his residence to ask why she was being harassed in this manner, his response was that the allegations were being made on the basis of an complaint and the fact that she participated in the “Free Jiten Marandi Convention”, in which Varavara Rao was also present.

Harassment of activists on flimsy pretexts and on grounds that they exercised their Constitutionally guaranteed democratic rights is a dangerous trend and will be resisted robustly by human rights activists everywhere.

Who is Dayamani Barla ?

Dayamani knows the cost of fighting against the powerful. Born in a village in Gumla district of Jharkhand to a landless family, Dayamani’s father was forced to give up his house to usurious moneylenders when she was still young. Her mother had to find work as a domestic in Ranchi and Dayamani had to work to supplement the family income from the age of nine. But she also continued to study, and worked to support her family by giving tuitions and typing, at the rate of Rs.1 per hour. Many children under such circumstances would have given up education. But Dayamani persisted and cleared not just high school but even university. She did her Masters in Commerce from Ranchi University and went on to be an award-winning journalist and author. She was clear from the start that she wanted to use her pen to give a voice to those who are otherwise not heard.

She  has lead the fight against Arcelor-Mittal‘s plans to set up a giant steel plant in Jharkhand. Why should she oppose industry that will create jobs in her State? Because she believes that the price that the tribals pay when they are displaced from their lands cannot be compensated through a few jobs or money. “Natural resources to us are not merely means of livelihood but our identity, dignity, autonomy and culture have been built on them for generations,” she is reported as saying. She believes that the location of such a huge plant will adversely affect the forests and water sources in the region.

She believes that the price that the tribals pay when they are displaced from their lands cannot be compensated through a few jobs or money.

Dayamani honed her skills for such a struggle when she joined the tribal groups opposing the Koel Karo dam in the 1990s. The dam would have submerged 66,000 acres and displaced 135,000 tribal families from their lands. Because of their determined struggle, the plans to build the dam were finally shelved.

As a journalist, she has used her pen to write about not just the injustices meted out to tribals resisting efforts to displace them, but also to expose the corruption in several government-run schemes like the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. Here fake muster rolls allow contractors to claim money on behalf of the poor. Only vigilance by local groups or by the media can ensure that the scheme actually serves the purpose for which it was designed. Through her writing, primarily in the newspaper Prabhat Khabar, Dayamani has set a standard for the kind of relevant journalism that is rare at a time when celebrity and sensation dominate all media.

We, strongly condemn the harassment of social activist and human rights’ defender, Dayamani Barla by the Jharkhand Police. Dayamani, a well known and noted journalist-turned-activist and human rights’ defender based in Jharkhand, is one of the leaders of anti-displacement movements. She is also part of many organisations, movements and federations, INSAF and NAPM.

In solidarity

 

In solidarity,

1. Kavita Srivastava, National Secretary,PUCL

2. Manisha Sethi, President, Jamia Teachers’ Solidarity Association (JTSA)

3. Harsh Dobhal, Human Rights Law Network

4. Mahtab Alam, Coalition for Protection of Human Rights’ Defenders (CPHRD)

5. Viya Bhushan Ravat, Human Rights’ Activist and Writer, Delhi

6.Kamayani Bali Mahabal, Human Rights lawyer and Activist, Mumbai

 

Forced Sterlisation in Sweden – Campaign

Dear Friends,

I want to draw your attention to the current situation in Sweden regarding forced sterilisation of trans* persons. You may be aware that sterilisation is a requirement under the current legislation before the State will recognise their gender. There was recently hope that this anachronistic requirement would be removed when steps began to have the legislation repealed. However, under pressure from conservative forces, it was announced last week by members of the government that the proposed changes would not be going ahead.

The UN Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women has explicitly condemned discrimination on the basis of gender identity in its General Recommendation No. 28 as well as repeatedly in reviews of various State Parties. Sweden has been a party to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women since 1980. Not only has it failed to date to act on its legal obligations under the Convention in this regard but now that momentum for change has begun, the government’s continuation of the status quo is exacerbating its failures.

AllOut has created a campaign together with RFSL to lobby the government in this regard. Please condemn all discrimination based on gender identity and support this campaign by encouraging its friends and partners to sign on and distribute the information contained in the link below:

Stop Forced Sterlisation

An interesting reflection : Slow Down Culture

It’s been 18 years since I joined Volvo, a Swedish company. Working for them has proven to be an interesting experience. Any project here takes two years to be finalized, even if the idea is simple and brilliant. It’s the rule.

Globalized processes have caused in us (all over the world) a general sense of searching for immediate results. Therefore, we have come to posses a need to see immediate results. This contrasts greatly with the slow movements of the Swedish. They, on the other hand, debate, debate, debate, hold x quantity of meetings and work with a slowdown scheme.

In the end, this always yields better results.

Some facts about Sweden:

1. Sweden is about the size of San Pablo , a state in Brazil .

2. Sweden has 2 million inhabitants.

3. Stockholm , has 500,000 people.

4. Volvo, Escania, Ericsson, Electrolux, Nokia are some of its renowned companies. Volvo supplies the NASA.

The first time I was in Sweden , one of my colleagues picked me up at the hotel every morning. It was September, bit cold and snowy. We would arrive early at the company, and he would park far away from the entrance (2000 employees drive their car to work). The first day, I didn’t say anything. Not on the second, nor the third.

Then, one morning I asked, “Do you have a fixed parking space? I’ve noticed we park far from the entrance even when there are no other cars in the lot.”

He replied, “Since we’re here early we’ll have time to walk, and whoever gets in late will be late and need a place closer to the door.”

Imagine my face.

Nowadays, there’s a movement in Europe named Slow Food. This movement establishes that people should eat and drink slowly, with enough time to taste their food, spend time with the family, friends, without rushing.

Slow Food is against its counterpart: the spirit of Fast Food and what it stands for as a lifestyle. Slow Food is the basis for a bigger movement called Slow Europe, as mentioned by Business Week.

Basically, the movement questions the sense of “hurry” and “craziness” generated by globalization, fueled by the desire of “having in quantity” (life status) versus “having with quality”, “life quality” or the “quality of being”. French people, even though they work 35 hours per week, are more productive than Americans or British. Germans have established 28.8 hour workweeks and have seen their productivity been driven up by 20%. This slow attitude has brought forth the US ‘s attention, pupils of the fast and the “do it now!”.

This no-rush attitude doesn’t represent doing less or having a lower productivity. It means working and doing things with greater quality, productivity, perfection, with attention to detail and less stress. It means reestablishing family values, friends, free and leisure time. Taking the “now”, present and concrete, versus the “global”, undefined and anonymous. It means taking humans’ essential values, the simplicity of living.

It stands for a less coercive work environment, more happy, lighter and more productive where humans enjoy doing what they know best how to do.

It’s time to stop and think on how companies need to develop serious quality with no-rush that will increase productivity and the quality of products and services, without losing the essence of spirit.

 

Alpacino in" Scent of a Woman "

 

In the movie, Scent of a Woman, there’s a scene where Al Pacino asks a girl to dance and she replies, “I can’t, my boyfriend will be here any minute now”. To which Al responds, “A life is lived in an instant”. Then, they dance to a tango.

Many of us live our lives running behind time, but we only reach it when we die of a heart attack or in a car accident rushing to be on time. Others are so anxious of living the future that they forget to live the present, which is the only time that truly exists.

We all have equal time throughout the world. No one has more or less. The difference lies in how each one of us does with our time. We need to live each moment. As John Lennon said, “Life is what happens to you while you’re busy making other plans”.

Congratulations for reading till the end of this message. There are many who will have stopped in the middle so as not to waste time in this globalized world.

 

This came in a chain of forward mails 

Warm memories of time in Pak jail

Justice Nasir Aslam Ahmed

Anahita Mukherji, Times of India |

Within half an hour of the retreat ceremony at the Wagah-Attari junction,
the two gates on either side of a thin white line that forms the border
between India and Pakistan were re-opened once again at twilight on January
8. And 183 weary-eyed Indian prisoners released from Pakistan began
trickling into the country.

Of these, 179 were fisherfolk from Gujarat who had accidentally crossed the
invisible line in the sea that divides India from Pakistan. But as Sunday
Times sat down to listen to their stories, expecting tales of terror and
torture, what came out was both uplifting and heartwarming. Our prisoners
had actually come home with fond memories of their stay in Pakistan’s
prisons.

While a Karachi prison scarcely seems the place for Hindu-Muslim unity, the
fishermen spoke highly of the Pakistani inmates with whom they shared jail
space. The Pakistani convicts went out of their way to help the fishermen
adjust to life in prison. “We became one large family,” says Bharat Suda
Soma. “We were never discriminated against for being Hindu. Whenever we
needed something, like soap or buckets, the Pakistani prisoners would get
it for us.” Pakistani jailers, who gave the fishermen hope that they would
soon be out, came in for praise, too: “The jailers liked us as we were
well-behaved. They would let us go for walks in prison.”

Justice Nasir Aslam Zahid, retired Pakistan Supreme Court judge and current
chairman of the Pakistani government‘s Committee for Welfare of Prisoners,
says, “The Indian prisoners in our custody are well looked after. Someone
from our office visits them every day.” It was on Zahid’s mobile phone
that three minors released last week recall speaking to their families
while in prison. “Whenever I spoke to my mother, she would cry and ask me
when I would come home,” 16-year-old Kamlesh told this reporter after he
entered India.

The fishermen had spent between a year and 15 months in jail. Ram Singh
Shamat of Junagadh district was in prison for two years. He had no idea he
had crossed into Pakistani waters until he heard a shot fired in the air
before being captured. “I was very scared. I had no idea what was going to
happen,” he says.

Their joy at being released was, of course, tempered with grief for their
fellow fisherfolk left behind in prison. In a remarkable show of solidarity
with their brethren, the fishermen painstakingly drew up a list of 61 men –
with details of villages and talukas and dates on which they were arrested
– still in Pakistani jail. Each of the released fishermen has two
photocopies of this list which they hope to circulate amongst the media and
activists in a bid to get their friends free.

Jatin Desai, joint secretary of the Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace
and Democracy, feels that fishermen should be released by sea with their
boats instead of the long route via land, from Karachi to the Wagah border
and then onwards from Amritsar to Gujarat.

While 276 Indian fishermen still remain in Pakistani prisons, 29 Pakistani
fishermen are in Indian jails. India released 121 fishermen last year.
Zahid feels there should be a bilateral committee of officials on board a
ship between the two countries, looking at cases of fishermen straying
across the border and settling the matter in the sea itself. Because no
amount of affection in a foreign jail can make up for lost time with loved
ones back home

Related articles

• 180 Indian prisoners released from Pak (breakdnewslive.wordpress.com)
• Demarcation of Pak-India water boundary urged (nation.com.pk)

Jail gate farce with alleged Naxals

Soumittra S Bose, TNN Jan 16,

Every time a so-called Naxalite is granted bail and is expected to walk out of central jail, Shakespeare famous line ‘All the world’s a stage‘ from his As You Like It‘ comes to mind. With each interpreting the bail order the way they like it, all players gear up for the inevitable drama staged outside the gate of jail. It usually ends with the alleged Naxalite being arrested almost as soon as he is released. A lawyer representing the rebel said that around 31 people have been part of this arrest-bail-re-arrest drama during the last six months.

The media too remain alert to catch the action live retaining all the juices of a tight-script drama. With the lawyers and police locked in a tug-of-war over the released Naxalite, the media also remain on toes to catch every slightest bit of the commotion until the cops zoom out in some rickety government vehicle with their ‘prize catch’.ir ‘prize catch’.

It was expected to be same with the alleged Naxal activist Arun Ferreira’s when he was released earlier this month after the bail formalities. The speculation of his getting arrested again at the jail gate like in September 2011 was rising among his lawyers and media. The over-zealous media on the day of Ferreira’s release nearly made two inconsequential prison inmates heroes as they came out mistaking them for the Mumbai man. The error was realized only when the cops started giggling aloud.

The undertrials, who were escorted away by the cops for different reason, had a surprised look on their face as more than a dozen cameramen ran towards them clicking their pictures and chasing the cops’ jeep. A couple of media men left the place in a jiffy to become first to break the news of release.

When Ferreira himself walked out, he looked around cautiously and was unable to believe there was none to whisk him away again. Many attribute to this anti-climactic end to a petition filed before the high court by his lawyers just a day before the release. A week later, however, cops were up to their old trick as they picked up three so-called Naxalites outside Nagpur central jail as soon as they walked out. In this case there was no media present to highlight the drama nor a petition had been filed for the trio to ensure their safe passage home. These so-called rebels were not a ‘celebrity’ like Ferreira. After being released from jail on bail, it is learnt they landed in the office superintendent of police, Gondia.

In 2007 too, dramas outside central jail revolving around the release of Mallesh Kusumma, alias Vikram, would repeat every six months as the period for preventive arrests would get over and security agencies, desperate to keep him in custody, would pick him up again. Now it is learnt that Mallesh is a family man settled in Hyderabad. His petition before the high court protesting his arrest and re-arrest from jail gate has also reached a final stage. “After Monicagate and watergate, we now have jailgate scandals which is a mockery of bail provisions,” said an angry Naxal sympathizer.

Related articles

• ‘Free political prisoners’ (kractivist.wordpress.com)
• The Art of Rearrest & Brutality – Indian Police Style: Adv. Surendra Gadling (kractivist.wordpress.com)
• Naxalite dies in police custody, 4 cops suspended in Chhattisgarh (kractivist.wordpress.com)

Press Invite-Towards a Participatory and Socially Responsive Budget

Press Invitation

January 17, 2012. 3:00 pm onwards

@ Indian Women’s Press Corp. 5, Windsor Place, Ashoka Road, New Delhi 110011 Ph : 011-23325366, 011-23321005

Dear Media Friends,

Greetings !

We would like to invite you to a press briefing on our consultations with the Finance Minister on the Budget on January 17, 2012.

Every year the Union Budget is presented by the Honourable Finance Minister in the parliament after discussion with various sectors but more importantly with the Corporates and their bodies and associations like FICCI, CII and others. We believe that the Budget is only furthering the agenda of the neo liberal reforms and is continually moving away from its social responsibility, which in turn is perpetuating the inequality.

As social movements we have been making suggestions to the government on various issues of governance and law. It is in the same spirit that we are now engaging with the Budget to make it more participatory and addressing the real needs of the other India, which remains neglected and under privileged.

The press conference will be addressed by :

Medha Patkar and Sandeep Pandey, National Conveners, National Alliance of People’s Movements

Swami Agnivesh, Bandhua Mukti Morcha

Prof. Arun Kumar, Jawahalal Nehru University

Shri Roshan Lal Agarwal, Thinker

Please do join !

Warm Regards,

Madhuresh Kumar

National Organiser, NAPM

Contact : 9818905316 / 9212587159

Creation of UIDAI number cards halted in Jharkhand

Monday, January 16, 2012, 14:25

Ranchi: The creation of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) numbers has been halted in Jharkhand‘s urban areas as the state has crossed the limit set for the current financial year.

“The creation of UIDAI numbers has been halted in urban areas of the state. It is continuing in rural areas and would be stopped the moment it reaches its prescribed limit,” an official of UIDAI’s Jharkhand unit told reporters.

“The target of creating UIDAI numbers in India was set at 20 crore in the financial year 2011-2012. In Jharkhand, a total of 80 lakh UIDAI numbers had to be created in the current financial year. For urban and rural areas, the target was 20 lakh and 60 lakh, respectively. In urban areas, a registration of around 22 lakh has taken place till January 7. In rural areas, a registration of 54 lakh has taken place and it will be stopped the moment it touches 60 lakh,” said the official.

UIDAI provides financial assistance of Rs.50 for creation of each UIDAI number. UIDAI officials said, “The UIDAI number creation target till 2014 was fixed at 60 crore. In each financial year from 2011 to 2014, the budget allocation would be for the creation of 20 crore numbers per year. The creation of the UIDAI number could continue if the state government agrees to pay for extra numbers created in the current financial year.”

Now, the state government has to take a decision on the issue. According to an official of the Information and Technology department, the government is interested in continued creation of UIDAI numbers and could take a decision to provide financial assistance to continue their creation.