-Hindustan Times Under DBT system, beneficiaries are required to collect food subsidy in cash from their bank and then buy food grain from local ration shops at market price Septuagenarian Deventi Devi visited her bank, 6km from her village, thrice this month to withdraw her food subsidy credited by the government in her account under the Centre’s direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme. She returned empty-handed each time because the bank said the...
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Women hold over 50% of Jan Dhan accounts
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: In what marks a boost for financial inclusion, more than half of PM Jan Dhan Yojna account-holders are women and they are also carrying out transactions rather than merely opening accounts, a sample survey by a financial inclusion consulting firm has indicated. The “State of the Agent Network 2017” report released by Microsave on Wednesday found that there has been a more than 200% increase in...
More »2019 on mind, worried Centre calls meeting to address farm distress
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre has called a two-day national conference on February 19-20 to discuss farm distress and find a permanent solution. Prime Minister Narendra Modi will attend the valedictory round on the second day and review the suggestions emerging from the brainstorming. The conference will be inaugurated by agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh at the Pusa complex. In April, the ministry will call a meeting of...
More »Aadhaar's $11-billion question -Jean Dreze & Reetika Khera
-The Economic Times blog Word has it that World Bank economists use “obviously fabricated” data from time to time. These are not Sitaram Yechury or Medha Patkar’s words, but those of Paul Romer, former chief economist of the World Bank, in a recent email exchange reported by Financial Times. Romer retracted them later, but this “may not end the controversy”, as The Economist mildly put it. This is not the first time...
More »Following the grain trail: on India's public distribution system -Jean Dreze
-The Hindu Many States have initiated ‘reforms’ of the public distribution system that are hurting millions of people India’s public distribution system (PDS) is in danger of being derailed in several States across the country. Recent disruptions of the PDS have taken different forms, from compulsory biometric authentication to so-called direct benefit transfer (DBT). The consequences are alarming, but tend to go unreported. Biometric mix-ups Jharkhand is a prime example of this problem. By...
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