-The Indian Express Rahul Gandhi’s proposed scheme will do more harm than good if it comes at the cost of existing subsidies for the poor. Congress president Rahul Gandhi signaled the earnestness of his party’s resolve to end poverty and hunger by announcing an untried policy instrument — a Minimum Income Guarantee for the poor. “Millions of our brothers and sisters” could not be allowed to “suffer the scourge of poverty”...
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The great Budget "Cash for Votes" Scam - and other Cash transfer Schemes -Jayati Ghosh
-Macroscan.org Jayati Ghosh argues that a combination of universal basic services, universal employment guarantee and universal pensions to ensure a minimum income is more workable and desirable rather than Cash transfers to individual households. Please click here to access the article. ...
More »PM Kisan Yojna: Small, marginal farmers to get Rs 4,000 by early April
-The Indian Express The Centre plans to transfer Rs 4,000 to small and marginal farmers under the PM-Kisan scheme by the first week of April, well before the Lok Sabha polls start. The transfer of Rs 2,000 to the bank accounts of farmers will commence from February 24 under the income support scheme and preparations are on to cover as high as 1 crore farmers on the first day of the...
More »The PM-KISAN challenge -Aparna Roy
-The Hindu The top-down, rushed approach of the government in reaching out to farmers is likely to end in failure This year’s Interim Budget is being regarded as a big spread for farmers. The government announced its decision to transfer Rs.6,000 every year directly to 12 crore farmers holding cultivable land up to 2 hectares through the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KISAN) scheme. While this is a progressive step, is it...
More »The solution is universal -Rajendran Narayanan & Debmalya Nandy
-The Hindu Strengthening the MGNREGA would be more prudent than a targeted Cash transfer plan like PM-KISAN Rural distress has hit unprecedented levels. According to news reports, unemployment is the highest in 45 years. To allay some misgivings of the distress, one of the announcements in the Budget speech was that “vulnerable landholding farmer families, having cultivable land up to 2 hectares, will be provided direct income support at the rate of...
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