When "Ghosts" Come Looking For Government Benefits In Madhya Pradesh

It may seem unbelievable, but Vidisha district in Madhya Pradesh is home to 40 living "ghosts". Welcome to Khajuriya Jagir village in Kurwai tehsil of Vidisha district, 140 km from state capital Bhopal, where 40 people are frantically seeking justice after learning that they had been listed as dead in digitised government records.

Among the 40 living "ghosts" are Guddi Bai, 50, and Rajkumari Bai, 23, her daughter-in-law; Santosh Sharma, in his mid-thirties; Ram Bhajan, a teenager; and Sushila Bai, a young woman with a four-year-old boy.

Guddi Bai, 50, and Rajkumari are now living ghosts. "In the Samagra ID, my daughter-in-law and I were both listed as dead. Because of that, my grandchildren's school admission hasn't happened," she said.

Sushila Bai, a 27-year-old neighbour of Guddi Bai, was qualified for coverage under the Shivraj Singh Chouhan government's recently introduced Rs 1,000-per-month Ladli Behana Yojana, but the development has prevented her from receiving benefits under the programme designed for financially weak married women.

Ram Bhajan, a 19-year-old, said the villagers learned one by one that they have been listed as dead in the government's digital database records, disqualifying them from receiving benefits under programmes for widows, abandoned and married women, and people with disabilities.

"About three to four weeks ago, I discovered that my Samagra ID had been deleted after I was marked as dead. About 40 residents of our village discovered the same. Being listed as dead in records has prevented me in taking admission," Ram Bhajan said.

Many people in the village have been recorded as "dead" in government's digitised database

While the sad turn of events has stopped Ram Bhajan from continuing his education, a similar turn of events has prevented Deepak Sharma, 33, from enrolling his daughter in Class 1 at a CM Rise School.

"We have been running from the office of the village sarpanch in our village to the office of the CEO of Kurwai Janpad panchayat, and also to officials at Vidisha district headquarters, but we have only received verbal assurance. My daughter couldn't enrol at CM Rise School because the admission period had passed and I was declared dead," Deepak Sharma said.

Santosh, 45, and Jitendra Sharma, 35, two brothers, are devastated after learning that they have been listed as dead in the records and that their Samagra IDs are no longer valid.

"I learned about it lately when I went to collect my ID information in order to enrol my daughter in a nursery school. The government's free ration programme for families with low incomes has denied assistance to my brother Santosh's family. Since then, all the authorities have given us are empty promises," Jitendra Sharma added.

Vidisha district collector Umashankar Bhargav said all these happened due to a fraud committed by one of the parties during the panchayat polls.

Vidisha district collector Umashankar Bhargav said all these happened due to a fraud committed by one of the parties during the panchayat polls.

"I'm writing a letter to the district police superintendent to get the entire matter probed by the police's cyber cell. We'll soon get the technical error corrected," he said.

When asked the same question to cabinet minister Prabhuram Chowdhary, he said, "If there are pending cases which came to our Jansewa campaign, we will resolve it."

When NDTV asked about the people who have been recorded as "dead" on paper, the minister said the government will get the errors corrected.