Should they be targeted? Should they go to individuals or households? Are conditionalities necessary? Without a full consideration of these issues, cash transfers will remain an expensive gamble Having worked on cash transfers for over 25 years, and being an economist, I find recent criticisms of the idea shrill and ill-informed. Only a right-wing ideologue would call them a panacea or a cure-all. They would merely be a vast improvement on...

-The Indian Express Increasing provident fund contributions within a faulty system is not the answer The Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) is moving towards increasing the mandatory contributions made towards an individual’s provident fund (PF). Contributions to the PF are 24 per cent of basic wages. Earlier, employers would exclude allowances such as the housing allowance (HRA) to make the basic wage look smaller, and pay lower amounts. If the EPFO has...

-Kafila.org This release was put out yesterday by the RIGHT TO FOOD CAMPAIGN On the second day of the “Right to Food dharna” convened by the Right to Food Campaign, hundreds of Poor women from across the country braved the morning cold and rain to assemble at Jantar Mantar and voice their concerns,  including the demand for a universal PDS, universalization with quality of ICDS, universal maternity entitlements, universal pensions for single...

-The Business Standard Despite industry's worries, land Bill cannot be delayed  The meeting of the Union Cabinet last Thursday was, by the standards of the United Progressive Alliance ( UPA) government at least, quite effective. In what Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh has called the UPA’s “slog overs”, several policy changes were announced, and proposed laws cleared. Perhaps the most important was the approval of the long-awaited changes to India’s colonial-era land...

-Outlook Congress president Sonia Gandhi today strongly backed the Centre's new Direct Benefit Transfer system that will ensure cash transfer directly in the hands of beneficiaries of various schemes, saying it is in line with many other "revolutionary" measures taken by the UPA. Gandhi, who is also UPA Chairperson, also announced her intent to bring the much-talked out Food Security Bill in Parliament soon to ensure that no Poor family remains hungry. She...