‘Digitally Dead’ pensioners presented themselves before the media to prove to the Government that they are alive. This may sound of a bit of a bizzare tale, but, was a reality when some pensioners gathered here to speak of their digital exclusion from pension list of the Rajasthan government that marked them as dead.

Pension Parishad and Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS) facilitated them to make their views public, so that authorities listen to them and solve their problems arising out of ‘mass digital exclusion of pensioners’.

According to them, this digital exclusion is impacting lakhs of pensioners across India. This claim, they say, is based on evidence from across Rajasthan collated by people’s movements. However, this is not about Rajasthan alone as similar problems have been reported from the states of Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Telangana, too.These are not isolated issues; they’re structural flaws,” the experts remarked.

They, however, praised the (previous) Rajasthan government for passing a critical legislation aimed at strengthening social security coverage for the most marginalised. It is to highlight all aspects of this issue that dignitaries including Justice Madan Lokur, Prashant Bhushan, Usha Ramanathan, Dipa Sinha, Muralidharan, Mathew Cherian and Nikhil Dey shared with the media the subject supported by evidence.

Not only they produced before the media persons testimonies from affected pensioners including elderly, disabled, and widowed citizens who have been denied their rightful pensions due to administrative and digital barriers or mistakes, the group also featured testimonies and made oral briefing for individuals whose pensions were unfairly cut.

One example was Vidya, whose pension was abruptly stopped two years ago with no recourse for reinstatement, despite valid documentation. Another individual, Pani Devi (65) from Jawaja was marked as “out of state” in the system records, and subsequently denied pension support. Gudiya, a single mother, shared her story of grappling with Aadhaar issues that have prevented her from accessing the disability pension she is entitled for over one year. This pushed her family in crisis. These stories underline the urgent need for a system overhaul to ensure that pensioners are not at the mercy of arbitrary digital errors.

While elaborating on the subject Justice Lokur and Dey said -“Reasons of denial for release of pension, as explained, are that they were being wrongfully declared dead on the records whilst (they) still being alive. Many of the deprived ones were wrongfully marked as having left the state on the records, whilst them not being able to step out of their own homes, let alone the state. Cancellation of pensions was also because of “data mismatches” on account of data entry errors regarding gender, spelling mistakes ,age etc. Difficulties related to electronic KYC due to biometric authentication failures or data mismatches, inability to procure an Aadhar ID despite repeated attempts were also found in numerous cases.

These errors were identified at the Panchayat/Block levels where officials were not in the position to correct them unless sorted out at the state level. In the case of disability pensions, for the last seven months, no new beneficiary has been able to apply or get benefits causing exclusion of an entire marginalised community, Dey said.

In this context, Dey highlighted the compounded marginalisation faced by pensioners on account of their age, disability, or other vulnerabilities, describing the authorities’ approach as insensitivity and disregard. “The government has effectively made Aadhaar compulsory despite claiming it wouldn’t be mandatory, leading to systemic failures that alienate those most in need of support,” Dey stated.

He cited a sobering statistic from Rajasthan, where over one crore pension beneficiaries face challenges, with around 13 lakh pensions being cancelled annually, often due to delays or data mismatches. He called for those responsible for these grave errors to be held accountable, and for compensation for those who invest significant effort in navigating a system that consistently fails them.

Usha Ramanathan, a legal scholar, explained that issues with Aadhaar’s biometric reliance have been evident since the inception of UIDAI in 2010. The burden is placed entirely on pensioners to ‘fit’ into digital frameworks that don’t work, leading to disastrous exclusions, she said. “These are not isolated issues; they’re structural flaws,” Ramanathan remarkede, noting how bureaucratic “disintermediation” has reduced pensioners to mere digital records, removing any sense of humanity-responsibility on the part of officials.

Prashant Bhushan, however, praised the Rajasthan government for passing a critical legislation aimed at strengthening social security coverage for the most marginalised but pointed out that the mass exclusions do the people-meant to benefit from the legislation a huge injustice. He added that exclusion caused by Aadhar is in clear violation of the Supreme Court Judgment when it comes to verification of those deserving of essential entitlements,

Shankar Singh of MKSS, put it rather bluntly: “In Rajasthan, the government has declared the living to be dead.” He criticised the state’s dependence on Aadhaar verification, likening it to oxygen – essential but manipulated – and demanded that pensions be delivered with the same enthusiasm as political campaigns.

Dipa Sinha, a development economist, underscores that the problems are far from “teething issues”, as officials once claimed, but represent a flawed system at odds with decentralisation and transparency. She called for accountability and local oversight to prevent systemic errors from leaving vulnerable groups without support. “People shouldn’t have to prove they are alive just to receive rations.”

Muralidharan, from the National Platform for the Rights of the Disabled, highlighted the exclusionary nature of the current framework, which largely supports only those below the
poverty line and individuals with severe disabilities. “In a $5 trillion economy, we’re offering mere scraps to the elderly and disabled, while thousands suffer due to restrictive eligibility and ineffective application processes,” he stated.

The MKSS and the Pension Parishad would like to state categorically that this is not aphenomenon restricted to Rajasthan . As is evident from cases of NREGA Job Card deletions, EKYC hassles have been reported from Jharkhand, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana and Telangana, too.The concerned campaigns will leverage every existing democratic platform including the Courts, Legislative assemblies and Parliament to raise these issues and demand accountability and reform.