-Livemint.com The success of cash Transfers will depend on how well the government addresses design bugs The recent economics conclave hosted by the finance ministry in the capital has rekindled the debate on cash Transfers in India. Among the invitees to the conclave was one of the most vocal critics of India’s transition to direct cash Transfers, Jean Dreze, a development economist and an advisor to the erstwhile United Progressive Alliance (UPA)...

-The Indian Express There is evidence to suggest that with a few modifications, MGNREGA can dent poverty. There are few government programmes that excite as much passion as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). For advocates, it is a lifeline for the rural poor. For critics, it is a programme that distorts labour markets and does far more harm than good. In this partisan quicksand, it is hard to...

-The Hindu BHUBANESWAR: The Odisha government is giving final touches to the proposed amendment to the Odisha Scheduled Areas Transfer of Immovable Property Regulations, 1956, which would open a window for tribals to sell their land to non-tribals in the Fifth Schedule areas. As per the proposal, tribal land will be Transferred to tribal or non-tribal buyers through auction. The State government, which has already held four consultations on the issue in...

-Financial Express The country must double its support to farmers, from the current levels of about 6-8% of the value of agri-output It was in the mid-1980s that the ‘India-Bharat’ phraseology was fist pushed into political jargon, by farmers’ leader Sharad Joshi, with ‘India’ representing the urban elite of the country and ‘Bharat’ synonymous with its neglected rural folk. Joshi, at the time, was leading lakhs of farmers protesting against anti-farmer policies,...

-Economic and Political Weekly The platform known as the JAM Trinity (an acronym for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and mobile numbers) may enable a shift from the current Public Distribution System, based on price subsidies, to the direct Transfer of benefits. However, it is incorrect to argue that JAM technologies will necessarily lead to the demise of the PDS. State-level experiences of computerisation, recounted here, reveal that the same technologies can...