-Economic and Political Weekly A broad-brush assessment of the public distribution system is presented in six of India’s poorest states—Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, and West Bengal—soon after the National Food security Act, 2013 came into force. Important gains have been made, including broader coverage, lower targeting errors, accelerated PDS reforms, and a greater political commitment to food security. In four of the six reference states, the PDS seems to...
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For democracy's sake, EVMs must have proper VVPAT-based audit -V Ramani and K Ashok Vardhan Shetty
-Hindustan Times Election Commission’s faulty audit plan has led to an avoidable controversy. We recommend a few steps. The bizarre claim made in London recently about the alleged hacking of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in previous elections has done more harm than good by diverting public attention from genuine concerns about EVMs and the Election Commission of India’s (ECI) lack of transparency in the matter. The controversy over the security of EVMs dates...
More »144% More Funds For Agriculture, But Not Enough To Quell Farm Unrest - Nilachala Acharya
-IndiaSpend/ CBGA Agriculture has got an unprecedented 144% rise in allocation in the interim budget announced by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government--from Rs 57,600 crore in the 2018-19 budget estimates to Rs 1,40,764 crore in the interim budget. This took the share of the agriculture ministry in the total union budget to 5.2%, a benchmark succeeding governments will be compelled to match for political reasons. For context, the share has been...
More »Gig economy has jobs, but long hours, no security and little pay -Nidheesh MK
-Livemint.com * In Kerala, the online economy taps into a labour pool willing to take up transient jobs due to lack of better options * The gig industry is defined as a labour market characterized by the prevalence of short-term contracts or freelance work as opposed to permanent jobs ERNAKULAM: The city was fast falling asleep. In home after home, bright porch lights were being turned off behind closed gates. Down an empty...
More »How to make Direct Benefit Transfers work for the people -Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukhtankar
-IDRonline.org Replacing India's Public Distribution System with Direct Benefit Transfers will improve efficiency, but shouldn't be implemented at the cost of individual choice. The Public Distribution System (PDS) is India’s flagship food security programme but also suffers from well-known inefficiencies. Even official government estimates suggest that a large share of public spending on the PDS does not reach intended beneficiaries. Thus, the idea of Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) in lieu of subsidised...
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