14 years on, first Aadhaar recipient recalls ‘false show’ of publicity
The Hindu
Ranjana Sonawane, the 'Aadhaar card woman', lives in a remote village in Maharashtra, highlighting the struggles of her community.
After an eight-hour drive from Mumbai, it is not difficult to find where Ranjana Sonawane lives in Tembhli village in the Shahada taluka of Nandurbar district in Maharashtra.
Popularly known as the ‘Aadhaar card woman’, Ms. Sonawane’s village is 43 km from Nandurbar town and some 416 km from Mumbai. Fourteen years have passed since the ‘big day’ that brought her to the limelight. Ms. Sonawane was the first person to receive an Aadhaar card on September 29, 2010, at the launch of the Aadhaar programme by then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and then Congress president Sonia Gandhi.
Ms. Sonawane, 35 back then, was mobbed by journalists from across the country and interviewed. “What is the point of speaking about my struggle? Does Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh even read what I have spoken about numerous times through journalists in the last 14 years,” asked Ms. Sonawane who belongs to the Bhil tribe. She does not want to take out her Aadhaar card anymore for photos. It is tucked in a suitcase.
A few solar panels were once installed on the streets of the village but there is no electricity in most of the huts. Ms. Sonawane has rented a power connection from her neighbour to light a bulb for Rs 100 per month. Like her, most of the villagers do not have access to toilets.
There is an old sewing machine as one enters her hut. “Today I stitched two blouses, I will earn Rs 100 once the customer collects these. My son [second child, 18] who dropped out of college due to financial constraints left home early in the morning looking for work. I had only Rs 20 that I gave him to buy food.”
Her eldest son, Umesh Sonawane, 22, is pursuing a postgraduate in Commerce from Shri Kakasaheb Hiralal Maganlal Chaudhari Arts, Commerce and Science College in Nandurbar, and the youngest son (15) is training himself to get a job with the Maharashtra Police.
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