Examine the role of Aadhaar-based authentication and biometric technologies in reducing leakages in welfare scheme delivery, with reference to Poshan Tracker.

Leakages in welfare delivery arise from ghost beneficiaries, duplication and unverifiable last-mile handover. Aadhaar-based authentication and biometrics attack this by shifting verification from paper registers to real-time digital identity. Poshan Tracker, the mobile governance backbone of Mission Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 (launched March 2021), is India's largest test of this model [1].

How authentication plugs leakages

• De-duplication at registration: Aadhaar seeding of beneficiaries removes duplicate and ghost entries from Anganwadi rolls; the Ministry notes Aadhaar-based tracking has enabled proper identification and prevention of leakages [2].
• Last-mile proof of receipt: the Facial Recognition System (FRS) authenticates Take-Home Ration (THR) handover, ensuring benefit reaches only the registered beneficiary — piloted August 2024, made pan-India optional in December 2024, and mandatory from 1 July 2025 [2].
• Real-time audit trail: near real-time capture of attendance, supplementary nutrition and growth data replaces retrospective paper reporting, enabling supervisory cross-checks [3].
• Scale of verification: by February 2026, 97.01% of THR beneficiaries had completed e-KYC and face capture, with over 10 crore beneficiaries registered on the app [2][4].

Limits and concerns

• Exclusion risk: authentication failure can deny entitlements to the most vulnerable — mitigated by the Nominee Module, allowing a face-verified nominee to collect THR [2].
• Infrastructure dependence: connectivity and smartphone functionality condition performance; ₹2,000 per year connectivity support per Anganwadi Worker is provided [1].
• Privacy and data protection: biometric capture of women and children demands strict purpose limitation under the DPDP framework.
• Measurement is not nutrition: verified delivery does not by itself correct stunting or wasting; convergence with health services remains essential.

Biometric authentication is therefore a powerful integrity tool, not a substitute for programme quality. The way forward lies in mandatory offline/exception fallbacks, grievance redress through the 1515 helpline, and periodic social audits — so that technology advances both the fiscal efficiency of welfare and the right to nutrition implicit in Article 21.