The faces of exclusion lost in Aadhaar debate

The other day, a banker friend pooh-poohed the Aadhaar debate, saying the exclusions due to it were statistically insignificant. I, on the other hand, contended that until the government can ensure that not even a single individual is excluded from his/her entitlements, it should not force Aadhaar down our throats. As we went round and round in a circle of arguments, statistics and the inevitable irritation, I had a sobering thought. The fact is that we don’t know exactly how many individuals have been denied their entitlements because of Aadhaar. Official figures are available for the number of instances when