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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | After foreign investors, government balm for aam aadmi -Rajeev Deshpande

After foreign investors, government balm for aam aadmi -Rajeev Deshpande

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published Published on Sep 23, 2012   modified Modified on Sep 23, 2012
-The Times of India

An SMS alert that tells the position of stocks in ration shops. A front-to-back computerization tracking food grain movement from procurement to rations shops. And a swipe card to allow BPL users to access subsidized food grain.

A two-stage Rs 4,200 crore recast of India's notoriously leaky public distribution system (PDS) is likely to considered by the Cabinet on Monday along with a Rs 1.25 lakh crore expansion of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) that will provide for seven lakh anganwadis.

The decisions aim to dispel the Opposition's criticism that the government's recent burst of economic reform initiatives are intended to cater to foreign investors and an elitist segment of society at the cost of the aam aadmi. The schemes intend to balance reform zeal with a pro-poor outreach.

Another politically significant initiative - launch of a unified National Health Mission (NHM) with an urban component — envisaging a Rs 40,000 crore spend over the next three years, is at an advanced stage and will soon be ready for Cabinet approval.

An IT backbone for PDS is an essential component of an eventual linkage with aadhar, the nationwide database for all residents of India. The reform is an overdue response to massive leakages of food grains, estimated as high as 60% in areas like the north-east.

The initiative that the Cabinet will consider sets out digitization of ration cards, a toll-free call centre for grievances and real time tracking of food grain movement as its objective in the first stage. This is expected to roll out in a year to 18 months after Cabinet approval.

The second stage aims at ration shop-level computerization and introduction of swipe cards that can be used by PDS consumers in both the below and above poverty line categories. Once this is linked to the national PDS data, it will also help supervisors at the Centre and states follow entire supply chain from procurement onwards.

The first stage Cabinet approval involves Rs 880 crore of which the Central share is Rs 500 crore. The Central largesse is in keeping with finance minister P Chidambaram's recent speech at the Planning Commission outlining a transition to cash transfers. The government is also considering offering cards with loaded with cash values that can be used at ration shops.

A reconfiguration of ICDS will see it being converted into a "mission mode" like the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM). A steering group will monitor the programme that aims to provide a big fillip to anganwadis, aiming to construct an additional two lakh buildings. The cash for maintaining these buildings has been doubled to Rs 2,000 a year.

Spending on nutrition per child will go up and anganwadis will operate six hours a day instead of the more usual three hours. The yearly expenditure will rise from Rs 16,000 crore to Rs 25,000 crore. The total number of angawadis, according to the plan, will reach seven lakh at the end of a five-year rollout.

The NHM has been caught in an intra-government feud as the health ministry under Ghulam Nabi Azad has opposed a unified mission, insisting that the rural and urban components be kept under separate schemes. A reconciliation of positions in on the cards after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh asked Azad and deputy chairman of the Planning Commission Montek Singh Ahluwalia to sort out differences. The NHM will be one mission but with a separate component for urban areas.

The rural mission currently costs around Rs 25,000 crore a year and the urban component is expected to add another Rs 4000-5,000 crore.

The Times of India, 23 September, 2012, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/After-foreign-investors-government-balm-for-aam-aadmi/articleshow/16508889.cms


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