-PTI NEW DELHI: To promote cashless transactions in rural areas, the Government will use MNREGA network to train and guide people, Union Minister Narendra Singh Tomar today said. "I will request our officials that following the Prime Minister's advice of promoting cashless transactions we should use our MNREGA network to train and guide people in the rural areas about cashless transaction," Tomar said here at an event to announce geo-tagging of over...
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Bringing PDS out of the abyss -Anjali Bhardwaj and Amrita Johri
-Deccan Herald System overhaul: Transparency measures with strong accountability mechanisms can usher in change The National Food Security Act (NFSA) passed in 2013 gives statutory backing to the Public Distribution System (PDS). Up to 75% of the rural population and 50% of the urban population is entitled to receive food grain under the Act. Beneficiaries are categorised into priority households, entitled to 5 kg of subsidised grains per person per month, and Antyodaya...
More »Work and welfare: MGNREGA 2.0 -Harish Damodaran
-The Indian Express The flagship rural jobs programme has shown improved performance after initial neglect by the Modi government. New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government may spend close to Rs 60,000 crore on the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) in the current fiscal, a record for the programme that was a baby of the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. The Union Budget had allocated Rs 38,500 crore towards MGNREGA for...
More »Food matters in West Bengal -Jean Dreze & Souparna Maji
-The Indian Express PDS has improved in the state, but it’s still not up to the mark. Recent media reports suggest that the public distribution system (PDS) in West Bengal is now “doing enormously well” — as one headline put it. Some also claim that this has contributed to the victory of the Trinamool Congress in the latest assembly elections. Since we were involved in the survey cited in these reports, we...
More »Dark clouds over the PDS -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu The imposition of Aadhaar-based biometric authentication in the Public Distribution System threatens to disrupt recent progress with PDS reforms. It also deprives millions of people of essential food entitlements. India’s Public Distribution System (PDS) has improved steadily during the last 10 years. The system used to be most ineffective and corruption-ridden, with Leakages of around 50 per cent at the national level, going up to 80 or 90 per cent...
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