Pregnant women put to hardship by new facial recognition system to get nutritious kit Premium

Anganwadi workers struggle with facial recognition system for pregnant women's nutrition kits, facing server issues and phone problems.

Anganwadi workers in the State have highlighted the impracticality of implementing a facial recognition system, which requires them to upload photos of pregnant women who avail themselves of the nutritious kit benefit under the Integrated Child Development Services scheme.

The anganwadi teachers have been finding it difficult to upload the photos due to server issues and bad phones. The facial recognition system, which was introduced by the Centre and rolled out in the State recently, requires pregnant women and lactating mothers availing themselves of the Take Home Ration (THR), a nutritious food package, to register themselves on the Poshan Tracker app with their Aadhaar card and mobile phone number at the nearest anganwadi.

When collecting the rations for the first time, the women’s photo is uploaded to the app. Following that, they have to collect the kit within the first five days of every month, and their photo is uploaded each time. “It has been hard to take these photos every month. The server is either slow or down. So, pregnant women are forced to wait upwards of an hour just to collect the ration,” an Anganwadi teacher in Kodambakkam said.

The teachers also have to use their personal phones for this as those provided by the Social Welfare Department don’t work anymore. “There is just no memory on the phones. They are not capable of handling such a technological load,” the teacher said.

Previously, when women collected the rations, their details were logged in the app and written down in a notebook. “Any person from their household can come collect the rations,” an anganwadi teacher from Gill Nagar said.

This difficult experience has made many beneficiaries regret signing up for the programme. “We leave our work and household chores to come and collect the ration. We are made to wait for over 45 minutes just for a photo because the server is slow. We also have to collect it mandatorily within the first five days, and they keep calling from the end of the month to remind us. It has been difficult. I’d rather not collect the ration at all,” said Divya B., who is eight months pregnant.

Further, the women also have to give a one-time password for their mobile verification. Due to technological deficiency, the teachers are forced to call the women as late as 9 p.m. to finish the work. “While I understand the difficulty, my husband questions me when I receive calls that late in the day,” said Vimaladevi V., who is three-months pregnant.