Will COVID-19 Clearance Certificate Turn Into Another Aadhaar?

New Delhi: Like Aadhaar, is a COVID-10 clearance certificate proving to be another tool to harass and exclude the poor and deprive them of benefits?

This seems the case, going by a recent report in The Hindu, of an incident in Jharkhand where a man carried his over 105-year-old mother in his back, walked 4 km like that to get her pension, but was denied the same because the bank authorities demanded a COVID certificate.

The incident took place in Ranka town in Garwha district, where a COVID-testing camp had been set up alongside the Vananchal Grameen Bank. According to The Hindu, only those who tested negative for the virus were being allowed to enter the bank.

Bhifan Bhuyan, a 60-year-old daily wager, took a day off to carry his mother on this back so that she could avail Rs 1,500 pension under the Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana from her Jan Dhan account. The camp was around 4 km from his Ranka village, where the family stays.

Bhuyan told reporters that when he reached the bank, the COVID-19 tests were going on outside the bank.

“I could not get my mother tested. Bank authorities also did not let my mother and me enter the building. So, I carried her back to my village again,” he said.

After pictures of Bhuyan carrying his mother on his back went viral on social media, the branch manager of VG Bank reached his home with the pension amount. He also reportedly said that the elderly woman need not travel all the way to the bank again for her pension.

The manager said the COVID testing camp was being held outside the bank and “tests were facilitated four bank customers.” He, however, denied that Bhuyan was “turned away” as he did not produce a COVID clearance certificate, claiming that the man did not wait for his turn because of overcrowding. One wonders, though, why a person would lose out on his daily wage, walk 4 km, and not wait for his turn to get some money in such hard times.