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<ul><li>The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has scrapped its plan to monitor and track citizens on social media — and has no plans of doing so in the future.</li><li>A tender floated by UIDAI in July 2018 invited social media agencies to employ a ‘social listening tool’ to monitor and address ‘negative sentiments’.</li><li>The proposal undermined Aadhar’s sole purpose of accommodating social welfare has been accused of violating the fundamental rights to privacy, freedom of speech, liberty and equality.</li></ul>The Unique Identification Authority of India (<a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/indian-government-portal-leaks-8-9mn-aadhaar-details-again/articleshow/63924186.cms">UIDAI</a>), which manages the biometric identities of <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nine-years-later-80-of-indians-are-still-not-convinced-the-worlds-largest-biometric-id-system-is-secure/articleshow/64406235.cms">more than a billion Indians</a>, is going back on its plan to monitor social media — for good. The Attorney General told the Supreme Court that UIDAI is withdrawing its tender and won’t be floating anything along the same lines in the future, according to <a href="https://barandbench.com/social-media-monitoring-tender-for-monitoring-agency-withdrawn-uidai-to-supreme-court/">Bar&amp;Bench</a>. The <a href="https://uidai.gov.in/images/tenders/RFPSocialMediaHQ-18072018.pdf">tender</a>, issued in July 2018, invited companies to help the apex agency employ a ‘social listening tool’ to track and monitor online conversations relating to Aadhaar. It was floated as UIDAI looking for a social media agency to manage its online platforms. The tender was then accused of violating the constitutional rights to privacy, equality, personal liberty and the freedom of speech. Here are all the reasons why it was a good call for UIDAI backtrack on its plan:

The agency behind the world's largest biometric identification system drops its plan to monitor online activity

<ul><li>Chief of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), RS Sharma, is claiming that private data companies are behind undermining the privacy and security of the Aadhaar unique ID system.</li><li>He contends that since India generates the most amount of data in the world, private data companies want to set up their own digital ID systems to capitalize on that opportunity.</li><li>Mukesh Ambani, chairman of Reliance Industries and the richest man in India, also made a similar statement about the importance of keeping the data of Indian users within the country.</li></ul>The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chief, RS Sharma, is alleging that there’s a conspiracy afoot to undermine the authority of the world’s largest biometric identification system by private data companies in the country. Sharma asserts that not only are data companies trying to undermine Aadhaar’s privacy framework, but they’re doing it in an attempt to set up their own identity systems. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="&quot;My suspicion, I will have to prove that, but based on circumstantial evidence, we think that many of data companies are behind Aadhaar issue. They want to create their own identity system.&quot;" auname="RS Sharma at 'International Colloquium on Ethics and Governance of Autonomous AI Systems'"></div>



 The Aadhaar digital identification system has been under scrutiny for its privacy issues since its inception. Despite repeated <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-trai-chiefs-aadhar-challenge-and-everything-thats-happened-since/articleshow/65227979.cms">affirmations</a> Sharma and the introduction of two-layer security system — citizens <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/nine-years-later-80-of-indians-are-still-not-convinced-the-worlds-largest-biometric-id-system-is-secure/articleshow/64406235.cms">aren’t convinced</a>. Sharma asserted, “Why would somebody want a national identity to develop and become national digital identity register. Many of these opposition (to Aadhaar) are happening because of these guys (data companies). They think that they should develop ID for the world.” Sharma contends that India generates nearly six exabytes of data per month — making it the highest in the world — and that is of interest to corporations. Mukesh Ambani, the head of Reliance Industries and the richest man in India, also warned against data colonisation at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit in January propagating that ownership of Indian data needs to stay within India. 
 <div type="ExtQuote" text="&quot;In this new world, data is the new oil. And data is the new wealth. India's data must be controlled and owned by Indian people and not by corporates, especially global corporations.”" auname="Mukesh Ambani at the Vibrant Gujarat Summit"></div>



 Similar to Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), India has been working on its own Personal Data Privacy Bill. TRAI explained that accountability, autonomy and security are integral for it to be an efficient ‘Data Controller’ in its report, the ‘Privacy, Security and Ownership of Data in the Telecom Sector’. See also: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/amazon-pay-wants-your-aadhaar-number/articleshow/67488694.cms">This is why Amazon wants your Aadhaar number</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/latest-aadhaar-data-leak-via-indane-gas-may-be-the-biggest-so-far-according-to-elliot-alderson/articleshow/68058787.cms">Latest Aadhaar leak may have hit 6.7 million Indians, alleges Elliot Alderson</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/supreme-court-clarifies-that-aadhar-isnt-mandatory-for-a-new-sim-connection/articleshow/63928188.cms">Supreme Court clarifies that aadhaar isn’t mandatory for a new SIM connection</a>

Indian telecom regulator’s conspiracy theory about Aadhaar data leaks sounds a lot like Mukesh Ambani’s claim

<ul><li>A <keyword id="14073905" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="google-pixel-7-prototype" source="Orion">Google Pixel 7 prototype</keyword> has been spotted on Ebay.</li><li>The listing has now been removed, hours after it was first spotted.</li><li>The <keyword id="576817" type="General" weightage="100" keywordseo="pixel" source="Orion">Pixel</keyword> 7 series is expected to be announced in October 2022.</li></ul>Search giant <keyword id="6355629" type="General" weightage="50" keywordseo="google" source="Orion">Google</keyword> recently held its I/O 2022 developer conference where it <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-i/o-2022-pixel-6a-pixel-watch-pixel-buds-pro-pixel-7-teaser-and-everything-announced-in-event/slidelist/91508460.cms">teased</a> the Pixel 7 and Pixel 7 Pro smartphones. A prototype of the upcoming Pixel 7 smartphone has now popped up on e-commerce platform Ebay. The Ebay listing was spotted by a <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/GooglePixel/comments/v127zt/google_pixel_7_prototype_128gb_stormy_black/">Reddit user</a> who claimed that they spotted the listing and it has not been posted by them. The Pixel 7 prototype listing has now been removed but the images give us a good idea about the upcoming smartphone. It is not clear how the person was able to get their hands on the Pixel 7 prototype. Then again, this is not the first unannounced device from the company to show up in the wild. The Pixel Watch was <a href="https://www.androidcentral.com/wearables/google-pixel-watch-live-images-exclusive">found</a> by a person in a restaurant even before the company confirmed its existence. The listing shows the display, the rear camera module, the right side, the top and the bottom of the Pixel 7. What’s more interesting is that you can see the reflection of the Pixel 7 Pro in one of the images. <div type="image" title="Google Pixel 7" msid="91907080" hostid="261" caption="&amp;lt;p&amp;gt;Google Pixel 7 prototype image&amp;lt;/p&amp;gt;"></div> In the above image, you can see the reflection of the Pixel 7 Pro just below the camera module. Apart from the design, the Ebay listing has not revealed any other information. Google had already confirmed that the Pixel 7 series will be powered by the “next-gen” Tensor chipsets. The devices are expected to feature a similar display as the Pixel 6 series. Google is expected to announce the Pixel 7 series in October 2022 so there’s still a long time before you can get your hands on them. We should know more about the devices in the coming weeks. SEE ALSO: <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/google-i/o-2022-pixel-6a-pixel-watch-pixel-buds-pro-pixel-7-teaser-and-everything-announced-in-event/slidelist/91508460.cms">Pixel 6a, Pixel Watch, Pixel Buds Pro, Pixel 7 teaser and everything announced at Google I/O 2022</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/tech/news/how-to-find-out-how-much-you-have-spent-on-swiggy-so-far/articleshow/91810447.cms">How to find out how much you have spent on Swiggy so far</a> <a href="https://www.businessinsider.in/policy/news/government-withdraws-advisory-on-aadhaar-photocopies-asks-citizens-to-be-cautious-while-sharing-aadhaar-card-details/articleshow/91881948.cms">Government withdraws advisory on Aadhaar photocopies, asks citizens to be cautious while sharing Aadhaar card details</a>

Google Pixel 7 prototype spotted on Ebay, listing now removed

It is advised that you check if you are ready to discharge your constitutional responsibility much before the elections. To vote in the elections for the State Legislature or the Lok Sabha, you must have your election ID card. Also to be able to vote during the polls, it is necessary that your name is on the electoral rolls. Here is how you can check whether your name figures on the <keyword id="6361920" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Voter-List">voter list</keyword>. Checking if your name is on the voter list is easier than ever now. It can be done online at the comfort of your hand held device or computer, whichever you will prefer. Learn step by step how to check if your name is on the voter list. Over the past, enormous measures have been taken in India to digitalize the details of citizens both via Aadhaar and Voters’ ID card. Hence the details of all the voters have gone on the internet and are ready for checking and correcting. This makes it easy for the public to stay informed and discharge their civic responsibilities besides enjoying their democratic privileges. The Election Commission of India has already published the electoral rolls on its official website on January 31, 2019. Hence right from February 1, 2019, the electors are checking if their names are there on the voting list. If your name is found on the voting list, you can straightaway visit the polling booth on the date of polling and show your identity card such as the Aadhaar card or the voter’s card to be able to cast ballot. Step-by-step guide to checking your name on the voter list: <ul><li>To check whether you name figures on the voters’ list, first visit the National Voters' Service portal on <a href="http://www.nvsp.in">www.nvsp.in</a></li><li>On the top left corner of the website, you will find the option ‘Search your name on the voters’ list.</li><li>To make sure if your name is on the portal, you can do the search in two ways: "Search by EPIC number" or "Search by details." EPIC is the number you will find on your on the voter ID card. </li><li>If you select ‘Search by the EPIC number’, you will have to enter your details and tap on the ‘Search’ button. </li><li>You will see all your details getting displayed in the search result at the bottom of the webpage. If you do not see the details displayed, it will most probably mean your name is missing from the electoral list now.</li><li>If you use the search option ‘Search by details’, the website will ask you to input information like name, age, sex, state, date of birth and district. If you fill in the details asked and hit search, your name might appear. If you see your details displayed, it will mean you are eligible to vote in your area.</li></ul>

Here’s how to check your name on the voter list in Assembly Election

New Delhi, Dec 28 () In a bid to promote digital payments, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Saturday said no MDR charges will be applicable on transactions through homegrown RuPay and UPI platforms beginning January 1, 2020.
Department of Revenue (DoR) will soon notify RuPay and UPI as the prescribed mode of payment for digital transactions without any Merchant Discount Rate (MDR), she said after meeting with CEOs of public sector banks here.
Accordingly, all companies with a turnover of Rs 50 crore or more will be mandated by DoR to provide the facility of payment through RuPay Debit card and UPI QR code to their customers, she said.
MDR is the cost paid by a merchant to a bank for accepting payment from their customers via digital means. The merchant discount rate is expressed in percentage of the transaction amount.
"After extensive consultation with stakeholders, banks and so on. I'm happy to say that announcement which was made in the budget will see the notification coming on January 1, 2020 whereby those modes which are getting notified will not have charges under the MDR being levied on them," she said.
Indigenously developed digital payment medium like RuPay and BHIM UPI will now have edge over the payment gateway promoted by foreign companies.
In her Budget speech in July, Sitharaman had proposed that businesses should offer low cost digital modes of payment such as BHIM UPI, UPI QR Code, Aadhaar Pay, Debit Cards, NEFT, RTGS etc. to their customers, and no charge or MDR shall be imposed on customers to promote digital payment.
"I, therefore, propose that the business establishments with annual turnover more than Rs 50 crore shall offer such low-cost digital modes of payment to their customers and no charges or Merchant Discount Rate shall be imposed on customers as well as merchants.
"RBI and banks will absorb these costs from the savings that will accrue to them on account of handling less cash as people move to these digital modes of payment," she had said.
She further said that all banks will also start a campaign to popularise RuPay Debit card and UPI in order to strengthen the digital payment eco-system and move towards less-cash economy.
The finance minister said the government has already amended two laws -- Income Tax Act and the Payments and Settlement Systems Act, 2007 -- to give effect to these provisions.
The meeting was attended chief executive of Indian Banks' Association and representatives of leading private sector banks.
Finance Secretary, Revenue Secretary, Electronics and Information Technology Secretary, CBI Director, RBI representative and the chief executive officer of NPCI were also present in the meeting.
Besides, the minister launched a common e-auction platform to sell attached assets of defaulters for improved realisation of value.
The platform is equipped with property search features and navigational links to all PSB e-auction sites, provides single-window access to information on properties up for e-auction as well as facility for comparison of similar properties, and also contains photographs and videos of uploaded properties.
As per the latest data, a total of 35,000 properties have been uploaded on the platform by PSBs.
PSBs have attached assets worth over Rs 2.3 lakh crore over the last three financial years.
To strengthen banks, in addition to the recent infusion of Rs 60,314 crore, additional infusion of Rs 8,855 crore (Rs 4,360 crore to Indian Overseas Bank, Rs 2,153 crore to Allahabad Bank, Rs 2,142 crore to UCO Bank and Rs 200 crore to Andhra Bank) has been approved and would be released shortly.
Having improved asset quality and internal resource generation, PSBs are now fully poised to support prudential credit growth towards a USD 5 trillion economy by 2025. DP DP BAL
BAL

No MDR charges applicable on payment via RuPay, UPI from Jan 1: FM

Like a lot of botched situations, this one started with an ill-advised tweet. On 28 July, Ram Sewak Sharma, the current chief of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and interestingly, the former chief of the Unique Identification Authority of India (<keyword id="6355252" type="DEFINITION" weightage="20" keywordseo="uidai">UIDAI</keyword>), challenged the Indian public to do their worst after disclosing his <keyword id="155319" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Aadhar">Aadhar</keyword> number on <keyword id="6354616" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Twitter">Twitter</keyword>. 
 
 
 
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 The challenge was meant to end the <keyword id="6355135" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="20" keywordseo="Privacy">privacy</keyword> debate over Aadhar once and for all. Here was a prominent government official and a staunch advocate of the Aadhar programme giving out his details and asking for a “concrete example of harm”. The Twitterati had a field day. A number of users posted details about his PAN card, mobile number, home address and date of birth. However, Sharma brushed off the responses, stating that the info found was publicly available and they had nothing to do with his Aadhar number. While the accuracy of most of the information found wasn’t able to be verified, the damage was done. 
 
 
 
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 Even a French hacker, going by the handle of Elliot Alderson, like the character in the TV show Mr. Robot, weighed into the debate, posting a picture of Sharma with his daughter and declaring that he should never have disclosed his number in the first place. 
 
 
 
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 Sharma, however, remained adamant. He said that no “harm” had been caused yet, implying that he believed that he had won the challenge. 
 
 
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 On 29 July, the UIDAI released a statement on the issue. The government agency in charge of implementing the Aadhar programme refuted the fact that RS Sharma’s personal information had been stolen by using his Aadhar number and reiterated the fact that these details were already available on the internet. 
 
 
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 On 30 July, the Indian government issued a statement saying that Sharma’s personal details hadn’t been extracted from the Aadhar database, and therefore, had nothing to do with the security of the Aadhar programme. 
 
 
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 On 31 July, Sharma, looking to reframe the narrative, authored <a href="https://indianexpress.com/article/opinion/columns/rs-sharma-aadhaar-number-challenge-trai-chairman-twitter-5283781/">an opinion piece </a>in the Indian Express titled “Why I gave out my Aadhar number”. He explained that the tweet wasn’t “impulsive” and restated his beliefs about the security of the system. Rather than explaining what the risks of the programme were and how the UIDAI had provisioned for these risks, Sharma chastised the critics of Aadhar for “scaremongering”. He added that the people who had taken up the challenge had found his personal details through Google searches and had been using the info to “unsuccessfully” hack his email account and also subscribe him to a number of services, which failed because they required OTP authentication. Finally, he addressed the fact that someone had deposited ₹1 into his account. Without pausing to examine the leak of the his bank account info, he said that this did not mean anything because he had actually received money, which was a good thing. However, on the same day, the UIDAI issued a series of tweets cautioning people against giving out their Aadhar details. 
 
 
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 The statement, which functioned as a veiled rebuke of the challenge in the first place, explained that publishing personal information was not compliant with the law. The UIDAI also said that it was doing so would make the holder “vulnerable”, although it wasn’t clear to what - trolling on social media or the theft of their private info? The end result? No one knows for sure whether the Aadhar programme is safe or not. No one’s mind seems to have changed. If anything is certain, however, it is that the people at the helm of the programme need to think first before starting a wave of misinformation and confusion on social media. It only serves to dilute the national conversation.

Here’s what you need to know about TRAI chief’s Aadhar challenge and everything that’s happened since

The <keyword id="774829" type="ORGANIZATION" weightage="80" keywordseo="Big-Data">Big Data</keyword> narrative in the recent years has been predominantly confined to commercial applications. In fact, the who’s who of tech companies are using advanced software tools to understand their users better and thus generate bigger profits. 
 
It is, therefore, a welcome change to note that organisations such as the World Bank are calling upon the experts of the Big Data community and enlisting their help in solving real-world issues related to poverty, development and corruption. 
 
A guiding light 
Between March 15 and 17 (this year), around 150 volunteer Big Data experts gathered in Washington DC to discuss in depth a range of social projects requiring their domain knowledge. One of the most innovative projects was the prediction of poverty levels in Bangladesh – not done through questionnaires or accessing bank records, but by tracking the degree of night time illumination in different parts of the country. 
 By accessing remote sensing <keyword id="6358065" type="PERSON" weightage="40" keywordseo="Satellite">satellite</keyword> data on night time illumination, the team working on the project was able to overlay information gathered separately from census data and figure out if a strong correlation existed between poverty levels and night time illumination. 
 
The results threw up some interesting findings. While the datasets for 2001 indicated a strong correlation, the same trend could not be established for 2005. However, the statistical and geospatial models, built as a result of this pilot effort, could go a long way in becoming a template for studies in other poverty-hit regions across the globe. 
 
Volunteer vision 
While organisations like the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) are backing such data dives, the real impetus for using Big Data for global good is coming from groups like DataKind, which describes itself as a community of pioneering data scientists, visionary change-makers, community builders and social innovators. 
 
When the non-profit organisation Grameen Foundation came up with the innovative idea to equip Ugandan volunteers with mobile phones through which critical information relating to farming could be disseminated to farmers on-field, it didn’t just stop there. The organisation recorded every information search made via mobile phones, the date and the time of the search, as well as the search location. 
 
Through a rigorous analysis of the terabytes of data accumulated, Grameen Foundation found a way to monitor and measure the interactions between the volunteers and the farmers, and determine what was working and what was not. 
 
Under the aegis of DataKind, projects ranging from tracking funding to politicians in the US to collecting accurate pricing data for food items in Africa are being fast-tracked – so that the communities impacted by these data points can improve even further. 
 
Mobilising big resources 
This does raise a pertinent question, though. Are these Big Data projects dependent on a big collaborative push from large global entities or can smaller communities across the globe embark on similar initiatives? Seeking help while others are thousands of miles away in Washington DC or Vienna is beyond the resources of most folks working in the social sector. 
 
By definition, most Big Data projects revolve around scale, even when the benefits accrue at the individual level. Take, for instance, the case of Aadhaar – India’s most ambitions unique identification (UID) project. Billed as the world’s largest biometric programme, the project is to provide unique identification numbers or Aadhaar numbers to 1.2 billion people. 
 
The scale gets more impressive when one considers that there are three primary modes of identification built into a single Aadhaar card that is provided to each and every person. These include a photograph, a fingerprint and an iris scan. That means a total of 3.6 billion data objects, if you go by a simple back-of-the-envelope calculation. 
 It’s no wonder then that the Indian government had to set up a specialised agency, the Unique Identification Authority of India (<keyword id="6355252" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="UIDAI">UIDAI</keyword>), for this purpose. The government also appointed a former head of a leading Indian IT company to head the project and spent billions of dollars to get things implemented. 
 The Aadhaar card is expected to be used for every critical function – right from opening bank accounts to receiving government subsidies related to food, fuel and education. Such a <keyword id="61221" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="40" keywordseo="big-bang">Big Bang</keyword> approach can only be justified on the basis of its multiple uses. However, there are only a handful of organisations in developing countries that can deploy such massive resources. So what happens to the rest? 
 
Big challenge ahead Ravi Prakash, who wears the twin hats of an engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an <keyword id="192013" type="CITY" weightage="40" keywordseo="IDEO">IDEO</keyword> (innovation consultancy firm) fellow, is trying to make a big difference to India’s rural healthcare scenario with the help of Big Data. He is helping the healthcare non-profit World Health Partners’ design systems that can capture each and every health-related interaction in a bid to improve forecasting healthcare issues, enhance healthcare quality and increase operational efficiency. As the IDEO team discovered during its study phase, it requires a whole level of different experts to operate in rural India. And all data point to a difficult but interesting journey ahead. 
 
Image: Thinkstock

Using Big Data For Bigger Impact

“I remember when we would boss around the people working in our fields. And look at me now. All these Punjabi ladies bossing me around, complaining about the rotis I make!” Kaushaliya Devi, a local of Mau Kasbah in <keyword id="6357713" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Uttar-Pradesh">Uttar Pradesh</keyword>’s Chitrakoot district, is ranting about her new life – new only for the last 20 years. But there is something transient about migrating to a new place, a big city, from your village and kheti deep inside the innards of a country as vast as India – such that it makes people like Kaushaliya feel like she doesn’t completely belong. She is not alone. India, according to a report derived from a study by the International Organization for Migration, has the second highest number of adults in the midst of the migration cycle – that’s 3.5 million planning and 1.3 million preparing. Zoom in on Uttar Pradesh, home to the largest population in the country, and the numbers are mind-boggling. The 2011 Indian Census pegged U.P. as the state with the most out-migration (26.9 lakh) followed, not so closely, by <keyword id="30033" type="COMPANY" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bihar">Bihar</keyword> at 17.2 lakh. In <keyword id="6368366" type="LOCATION" weightage="20" keywordseo="Bundelkhand">Bundelkhand</keyword>, arguably among the most regressive swathes of land in U.P., migration is the norm with generations <keyword id="41744" type="ENTERTAINMENT" weightage="20" keywordseo="UP">up</keyword>on generations of families opting for it in order to survive. “Peedhiyon se palayan” is a common, oft-heard phrase around these parts, especially in the post-Diwali season, with the winters in the offing when hordes of men and women make their way to the Manikpur railway station to catch trains to Delhi. The families of Bakta Bujurg village in the district of Chitrakoot for instance, often speak of “palayan” and “pardes”. Alpana Devi tells us that her husband Ramdeen left ten years ago, while Ramdeen who is visiting, speaks of the reasons, "Our options are to work on land owner's fields, for which we get Rs 150 a day. We can either eat or send our children to school; there is no way we can afford both." Ramdeen’s father too had migrated, “for the same reasons”. And decades later, he says, it’s still the same, “I don’t see any other or new options that have come up since the time my father worked to bring us up.” What about his children, we ask. "What about them?" Alpana responds, even as Ramdeen sums it up, "Yeh toh ab rivaaz hi ban gaya hai. (Migration has now become a tradition)," watching his 10-year-old son play. 
 
 
 
 
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 Migration as a socio-cultural-economic phenomenon in U.P. has been a steadily intensifying one. Between 2001 and 2011, over 5.8 million people between the ages of 20 and 29 migrated from the state in search of jobs, but the tragedy in this mass exodus lies not as much in the process of migration itself as in the outcome. The search for jobs and better opportunities pushes these migrants into the informal sector in cities like Delhi, Punjab, Chandigarh, sometimes Mumbai, where, due to low educational attainment, they are often forced to make-do with low-paying jobs. As a result of which, they are often relegated to settlements and clusters on the peripheries of the cities they’re in – entire families crammed in one room, sharing the common toilet with other families in neighbouring shanties. We visited Rajapur in Delhi, one such popular settlement for scores of migrating Bundelkhand families, primarily from Mau, in Chitrakoot – where men work as drivers and car cleaners, women as cooks and maids, and the children dream of reality shows as they head out to the local government school. Arjun had dreamt of working in the wholesale business, but didn’t make the cut for “any company”. He currently cleans cars for a living and is aiming to be a driver, next. Kaushaliya Devi who cooks for a family in south Delhi lists "gas chalana” as one of her biggest challenges initially, “I couldn’t figure out the knobs! Now I’m super-fast!” nagging women of the house continue to be the bane of her existence even though she adds, “I make tasty food. You know, these city people don’t really know to cook!” Chunki recalls her early days and relives the pangs of loss she felt in the moment she left Mau for Delhi. “Oh! I cried and I cried. I couldn’t understand this Delhi, and why I was here.” And Kumkum misses the buzz of festivals back home – “It’s just not the same here,” she smiles, wistfully. But Kumkum hides other darker tragedies in her personal story of migration – one that reflects on an entire state and its defunct rural health system. According to an Indiaspend study, U.P. spends Rs 452 per capita on health, which is, on an average, 70% less than the others. And there’re more dismal figures here. There are 84% fewer specialists than needed, 50% fewer nursing staff, and the lowest share of health workers (19.9%) in India, as per an analysis conducted by the Observer Research Foundation in February 2017. The fact that T.B. continues to be a silent killer in Bundelkhand – as is clear in our reporting in Gopra, Banda – is just one illustration of the abysmal state the system is in. And this too is one of the big reasons for migration – the underbelly of a peculiar kind of medical tourism. “My husband had T.B.”, says Kumkum, “His condition was not improving. So we came to Delhi for his treatment.” As the treatment began, Kumkum, her husband, and their four kids took up accommodation in Rajapur. The children got enrolled in sarkari schools and since “school admission is such a problem now”, the family decided to stay on in Delhi. Kumkum’s husband eventually got better and regained his strength, but Kumkum still dreams of her special Purnima puja back home when "all the ladies would get together" and bond over a ritual – one that morphed into a ritual of exodus. The greatest driver of the migration story of course remains and continues to be linked with livelihoods – the basic need to earn, eat, feed, fend for your loved ones – in short, survival. The celebrated MGNREGA policy, put into place by the UPA government, has not been the very picture of a success story. A recent Indiaspend study revealed the shocking fact on how wage payments under the MGNREGA scheme have been frozen at the Centre across 19 states, as of October 31, 2017. In U.P., these payments have been released and are pending since 11 September 2017, but that’s only official data. Add the Aadhaar card requirements and bank account linkages, and couple those with job cards-hoarding village headmen at the rural level, and there is a clearer picture of the sheer dystopia that a “poor-friendly” policy has become. In the meanwhile, the migration story is deeply linked with the story of the overall deterioration of the country's most populous state – something is more than rotten in U.P., and specifically Bundelkhand. The proportion of households able to get 100 days of work, for instance, makes for another mind-boggling statistic, having decreased from 6% in 2013-14 to 2.13% in 2016-17. Figures it would do the current Yogi <keyword id="6360744" type="PERSON" weightage="20" keywordseo="Adityanath">Adityanath</keyword> government good to do some stock-taking on. The “sabka saath sabka vikaas” mantra is failing deeply in a place like Kabrai, for instance – a stone-mining haven in Mahoba where machines have replaced manual labour, which has, in turn, resulted in an acute employment crisis. Rajpal, who tried his luck with contracting in Kabrai, is now heading to Jaipur, to become part of the brick-laying unskilled labour force needed to construct, more malls, possibly. We asked his wife Sunita about the big move and her response is tempered with something close to rage, “What else can we do? There is nothing here that gives us money. Pet paalna hai, toh jaana hi hai.” And unfortunately, that is exactly what the palayan narrative of Bundelkhand boils down to. Author: Pooja Pande is Senior Editorial Manager at <a href="http://khabarlahariya.org/" target="_blank">Khabar Lahariya</a>. Khabar Lahariya is a rural, video-first digital news organisation with an all-women network of reporters in eight districts of Uttar Pradesh. <a href="http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/OB-ZE468_1007MI_M_20131007001332.jpg" data-type="tilCustomLink">Image Source</a>

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