-The Hindu India’s drug price control order, which is vital to the availability of affordable essential medicines, has been whittled down to the point of becoming insignificant. While the number of price-controlled medicines has dwindled over the past three decades, from 347 to 74, the pharmaceutical industry has been pursuing super profits. The High Level Expert Group of the Planning Commission on Universal Health Coverage noted in its report that price...
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Government's cash transfer: old wine in new bottle -Chetan Chauhan
-The Hindustan Times The direct cash transfer in 42 schemes to start from next year is old wine in new bottle with beneficiaries under these schemes already receiving money directly into their bank accounts. Finance minister P Chidambaram and rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on Tuesday announced that money under these 42 schemes of the central government would be transferred directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries in 51 districts from next January. The list...
More »People’s movements say no to cash transfer, yes to PDS -Mohammad Ali
-The Hindu A day after the Union Government rolled out cash transfer for subsidies and entitlements, Jan Sansad, a coalition of more than 60 people’s movement, rejected it for being “anti-people”. Terming the scheme “an attempt by the government to wash off its hands from the responsibility to provide basic services and social security to its citizens”, the coalition said direct cash transfer will have disastrous impact on the lives of the...
More »Why direct cash transfer shouldn’t be used to kill the PDS -G Pramod Kumar
-First Post If we are willing to believe the best practice examples of cash transfers from Brazil and Philippines, and trust the UPA on the fact that their cash-for-subsidy is going to be all hunky-dory, we also have a right to believe Sitaram Yechury’s concerns about the fancy plan. According to the CPM leader, the cash transfer is a ploy by the government to dismantle the PDS and systematically reduce subsidies. “This is...
More »It’s not quite a silver bullet
-The Hindustan Times The government will begin switching over to a system of direct cash transfers for welfare in the New Year and hopes to roll it out all over the country in the ensuing 364 days. This is a radical departure from the existing welfare delivery mechanism so riddled with leaks that a mere fraction of the benefits reach the intended target groups. By co-building these transfers with biometric enumeration...
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