Face recognition for pregnant girls: Congress flags ‘exclusion’

“First, Aadhaar was weaponised to dam crores of staff from MGNREGA. Acid assault survivors needed to battle in court docket simply to enrol in Aadhaar. Adivasis throughout the nation nonetheless lose rations to tech glitches,” he mentioned in a submit on X.

“Now, pregnant girls face a brand new hurdle: facial recognition know-how (FRT) for primary and authorized entitlements underneath the NFSA!” Ramesh mentioned.

Everywhere in the world, proof has emerged that FRT discriminates in opposition to class and color of the pores and skin, he mentioned.

That is after different applied sciences akin to Aadhaar-based Fee System (ABPS), the Nationwide Cellular Monitoring System (NMMS) app, and so forth. have confirmed to be exclusionary or have failed, Ramesh claimed.

The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Schooling, Ladies, Kids, Youth, and Sports activities in its 365th Report on the Demand for Grants for the Ladies and Baby Improvement Ministry had famous that the introduction of ABPS within the Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana impacted the power of eligible beneficiaries (i.e., pregnant and lactating girls) to profit from the scheme, he identified.

The variety of beneficiaries paid has dipped drastically, from 96 lakh girls in FY19-20 to 27 lakh girls in FY23-24, Ramesh mentioned.

“Nonetheless the Modi authorities brings yet one more discriminatory know-how. Digital India should allow, not disempower. It should not stay a Preach Inclusion Observe Exclusion ( PIPE) dream,” he mentioned.