-Moneycontrol.com Jean Dreze, the Belgian-born hunger economics expert, on the devastation of Covid, what plagues MNREGA, central government’s relief measures, stimulus packages, vaccination drive and more. The big lesson from the havoc wrought by Covid-19 is that India must abandon the “fragmented” US model of healthcare, which is a colossal failure, according to developmental economist Jean Dreze. A Belgian-born hunger economics expert who has co-authored books with Nobel laureates Amartya Sen and...
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Over three-fourth of workers lost their livelihoods since lockdown, finds ActionAid India's national survey of informal labourers
ActionAid Association's (AAA) national level survey among people dependent on the informal economy during the third phase of the national lockdown towards the end of May 2020 (i.e. between May 14th and May 22nd, 2020) has documented the "nature and extent of the transitions in the lives and livelihoods of informal workers, including migrant workers, during the pandemic and provide[s] an insight into the precarity they experience and the coping...
More »Bank accounts opened under Jan Dhan Yojana crosses 40-crore mark
-PTI/ The Hindu As per the latest figure, there are 40.05 crore beneficiaries of this scheme and deposits in Jan Dhan bank accounts are in excess of ₹1.30 lakh crore. More than 40 crore bank accounts have been opened under the government’s flagship financial inclusion drive Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), launched about six years ago by the Modi-government. As per the latest figure, there are 40.05 crore beneficiaries of this scheme...
More »That foodgrain stocks lie in public godowns while people are going hungry is a scandal -Dipa Sinha
-The Indian Express What is disturbing is that in the middle of the current crisis some are now calling for a massive downsizing of the PDS and a shift to cash transfers in place of foodgrains. The Public Distribution System has played an important role in providing relief to people in the aftermath of the national lockdown. With COVID-19 cases increasing and the economy continuing to be in a downturn, some corrective...
More »Getting cash transfers out of a JAM -Jean Drèze and Reetika Khera
-The Hindu For effective cash relief in response to the COVID-19 crisis, the government must think beyond the Jan Dhan Yojana For some years now, the so-called JAM trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) has been propounded as a dream cash-transfer infrastructure for India. The term “trinity” itself gives a sense of the faith and fervour this project sought to inspire (why not “trio”?). It was born in chapter 3 of the Economic Survey 2015,...
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