Lists of folly: On the Supreme Court, the SIR and benefits

The Supreme Court has reiterated its position that exclusion from the electoral rolls cannot have consequences unrelated to voting . The Court was responding to West Bengal government orders, issued in May-June, that linked welfare benefits and official caste certifications to the outcomes of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls . Those removed would become ineligible for certain welfare benefits and certifications under these orders. A May 19 notification directed that persons removed from the electoral roll should not continue as beneficiaries of the Annapurna Yojana, a cash transfer scheme for women, unless they had filed appeals before the SIR tribunal. A June 4 order directed the deletion of beneficiaries from the Public Distribution System. On May 14, the government decided to re-verify and cancel caste certificates of those persons whose names had been deleted from the rolls.