India's Aadhaar-linked ration denials and the Jharkhand starvation deaths (2017-18)

candidate · p2026-09-06-252 · exclude-attribution

set aside as: EXCLUDED BY ATTRIBUTION
the researcher's note: India's Aadhaar-linked ration denials and the Jharkhand starvation deaths (2017-18). The numbers are solid: about 20% of cardholders in Ranchi district could not transact in an average month over January-July 2017, "about 81,000 cardholders are unable to buy their PDS rations in Ranchi district alone" out of 407,000, implying roughly 1,120,000 excluded statewide; more than 40% of non-transacting households cited ABBA-related reasons. But the failure is apportioned by the same sources mostly to connectivity — around 10 points of a 13-15% authentication failure rate is network, under 5 points is the biometric not matching. The exclusion could have happened, and largely did, without any learned component; the matcher itself (Neurotechnology MegaMatcher ABIS) is not described as fitted by any source fetched. Gate 4 fails, gate 1 unproven. Source held: https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/poverty-inequality/aadhaar-biometrics-and-the-pds-in-jharkhand
proposed by: researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06 second harvest, china-india-africa-latam
received: 2026-09-06T10:20:12-04:00
harvest report: impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-china-india-africa-latam.md

Rulings, in order

2026-09-06T10:20:12-04:00 · researcherexclude-attribution — India's Aadhaar-linked ration denials and the Jharkhand starvation deaths (2017-18). The numbers are solid: about 20% of cardholders in Ranchi district could not transact in an average month over January-July 2017, "about 81,000 cardholders are unable to buy their PDS rations in Ranchi district alone" out of 407,000, implying roughly 1,120,000 excluded statewide; more than 40% of non-transacting households cited ABBA-related reasons. But the failure is apportioned by the same sources mostly to connectivity — around 10 points of a 13-15% authentication failure rate is network, under 5 points is the biometric not matching. The exclusion could have happened, and largely did, without any learned component; the matcher itself (Neurotechnology MegaMatcher ABIS) is not described as fitted by any source fetched. Gate 4 fails, gate 1 unproven. Source held: https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/poverty-inequality/aadhaar-biometrics-and-the-pds-in-jharkhand

The proposal as it arrived (JSON)

{
 "id": "p2026-09-06-252",
 "received": "2026-09-06T10:20:12-04:00",
 "proposer": "researcher (opus), brief 2026-09-06 second harvest, china-india-africa-latam",
 "kind": "candidate",
 "sha": "3bc2ce3188ef53cb",
 "data": {
  "name": "India's Aadhaar-linked ration denials and the Jharkhand starvation deaths (2017-18)",
  "note": "India's Aadhaar-linked ration denials and the Jharkhand starvation deaths (2017-18). The numbers are solid: about 20% of cardholders in Ranchi district could not transact in an average month over January-July 2017, \"about 81,000 cardholders are unable to buy their PDS rations in Ranchi district alone\" out of 407,000, implying roughly 1,120,000 excluded statewide; more than 40% of non-transacting households cited ABBA-related reasons. But the failure is apportioned by the same sources mostly to connectivity — around 10 points of a 13-15% authentication failure rate is network, under 5 points is the biometric not matching. The exclusion could have happened, and largely did, without any learned component; the matcher itself (Neurotechnology MegaMatcher ABIS) is not described as fitted by any source fetched. Gate 4 fails, gate 1 unproven. Source held: https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/poverty-inequality/aadhaar-biometrics-and-the-pds-in-jharkhand",
  "list": "EXCLUDED BY ATTRIBUTION"
 },
 "from_file": "impacts/harvest/2026-09-06-china-india-africa-latam.md"
}