-Scroll.in It is technologically possible, but the real question is whether it is implementable. Since March 22, the day of the “janata curfew”, mainstream media in India has foregrounded the situation of urban workers like never before. Mainstream and social media has been flooded with videos and images of people walking as well as of urban workers who were stuck in hostile cities without food, even water and shelter at times. An exhausted...

-Scroll.in The debate over the proposal has turned into a political slugfest. Crucial questions remain unaddressed. In 2016, the Delhi government ran a pilot in 42 out of its roughly 2,500 Public Distribution System outlets. At these outlets, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication was introduced at the time of sale of grain to ration card holders. A survey was done by students of Lady Shri Ram College at one of the pilot PDS outlets, incidentally...

-The Hindu Technological changes in education and health are worsening inequities Virginia Eubanks’ widely acclaimed book, Automating Inequality, alerted us to the ways that automated decision-making tools exacerbated inequalities, especially by raising the barrier for people to receive services they are entitled to. The novel coronavirus pandemic has accelerated the use of digital technologies in India, even for essential services such as health and education, where access to them might be poor. Economic...

The National Food Security Act 2013 guarantees maternity benefit to the tune of Rs. 6,000/- per child by the Central Government for pregnant women and lactating mothers, barring those who are already availing such benefits while being in regular employment with the Central Government or State Governments or Public Sector Undertakings or under other laws. The NFSA 2013 also legally guarantees free meals for every pregnant woman and lactating mother...

-The Hindu Other important promises that could touch, and likely improve, the lives of millions rarely make headlines Disparaging references to “freebies” are a popular trope of media coverage of elections in Tamil Nadu. This Assembly election is no different: free data, free tabs, free washing machines were in the news as political parties released their election manifestos. Electoral promises serve as a road map for elected governments and deserve greater scrutiny....