-The Telegraph Hazaribagh: A 40-year-old mother of two died of starvation at Hazaribagh Sadar Hospital this morning, two days after her daughter died of the same reason at their village home 7km from district headquarters, in a country where National Food Security Bill, 2013, received Presidential assent on September 10. Despite so-called safety nets - existing flagship welfare provisions such as BPL card, MGNREGS and a host of other subsidy, pension, assistance,...
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Database error: Why Delhi's failed experiment shows government should not use them -M Rajshekhar
-The Economic Times In the leaky system of welfare delivery, databases are the newest valve that governments are installing to ensure that benefits reach those-and only those -they are intended for. Since December 2012, for instance, the government of Madhya Pradesh has been appending on to the Centre's Socio Economic and Caste Census a host of household-level data: bank account numbers, NREGA card numbers, welfare entitlements, land ownership, whether their house is...
More »Food Bill will help over 80 per cent coverage in Jharkhand villages-Anumeha Yadav
-The Hindu State's share of subsidised foodgrains will increase by 68 per cent; Centre will bear an additional subsidy of Rs. 595 crore Ranchi: On June 14, at Manika in Latehar, 180 km from Ranchi, more than 300 men and women stood in the pouring monsoon rain to record their testimonies about the functioning of public schemes in their villages as district officials listened at a public hearing organised by the Gram...
More »Cash transfers, contractors out -Nitin Sethi
-The Hindu Acting on Sonia's recommendations, government to bring in key official amendments to Food Security Bill The government has decided to bring in key amendments to the National Food Security Bill, removing provisions for cash transfer and role of contractors and manufacturers in the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS). The decision, which came on the recommendation of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, found support from the Opposition. The move comes even as the...
More »The state of the PDS in Gujarat
-The Hindu R.P. Gupta, Principal Secretary to Government of Gujarat, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department, writes: "In Gujarat, PDS is exclusionary, leaky, getting worse" (August 17), your Correspondent Rukmini S., mainly focuses on the alleged weakness of the Gujarat Public Distribution System based on old data. It is clear that she has not countered any of the points raised by the Chief Minister of Gujarat. The article mentions some analysis of...
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