-The Indian Express In Jharkhand and Bihar, the food crisis triggered by the lockdown has put a spotlight on an old problem — Leakages and corruption in the the Public Distribution System. Patna, Ranchi: Earlier this week, Jharkhand’s grievance helpline 181 received four calls from Palamu on a single day. All the callers had a similar complaint: though the state had promised 70 kg rice in April, their ration dealer in Medininagar...

-Down to Earth Poor, elderly not able to match fingerprints on system, not getting food grain as a result Thousands of poor villagers have been pushed to the brink of starvation in Bihar as the biometric system installed to curb Leakages in the public distribution system (PDS) is proving to be the stumbling block on their way. The Food and Consumer Protection Department in the state has made it mandatory for use of...

-The Hindu Aadhaar-based biometric authentication did not reduce PDS Leakages, finds Jharkhand-based empirical study “Aadhaar has curtailed Leakages of government subsidies... Through Aadhaar, savings worth ₹90,000 crore have accrued to the government,” said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, then CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and current Revenue Secretary, in UIDAI’s 2017-18 annual report. But not so fast, say Professors Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukthankar. They have just published a...

-Economic and Political Weekly The public distribution system is the cornerstone of anti-poverty initiatives in India to address the issue of hunger and malnutrition, but is plagued with Leakages and corruption. Though several possible reasons account for these problems, one factor that is generally overlooked is the lack of assessment of the preference of the beneficiaries in terms of product portfolio, selection, and delivery mechanisms. Through a mixed methods analysis across...

-Down to Earth Govt has made tall claims on NREGA implementation; but it is neither keen on providing dignified wages nor allocating adequate funds for the scheme The Union Budget for 2019-20 ignored issues of social security and employment and did not show any intent to boost rural India. The Budget tabled by Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5, 2019 was a disappointment for 13 crore rural households dependent on the Mahatma Gandhi...