This will speed up payment of wages under employment guarantee scheme In a major step to alleviate delays in wage payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday launched an “e-Shakti Financial Inclusion” scheme – the first of its kind in the country. The scheme aims at providing about three crore villagers with ‘e-Shakti' biometric Smart Cards, with the Central Bank of...
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NAC meet tomorrow to discuss draft of food security bill by Smita Gupta
Food grain entitlement programme to start in the 150 poorest districts in the first year The Sonia Gandhi-led National Advisory Council (NAC) is yet to reconcile the government's assurance of a monthly provision of 25 kg of foodgrains for every family with its desire to enhance it to 35 kg. Nor has it been able to resolve the contentious question of dual pricing — Rs. 3 a kg for the poor...
More »Decision soon on cash-for-food dole
The government will soon have to decide on the proposal of direct cash payments in lieu of food subsidy as a key committee of Parliament has asked the ministries concerned to decide quickly on the issue. This cash payment through Smart Cards is increasingly being seen as an option to prevent leakage in the public distribution system (PDS), and certain variants of the system are already being experimented with by...
More »Oliver Twist seeks food security by P Sainath
The NREGS is restricted. The PDS is targeted. Only exploitation is universal. The rotting of lakhs of tonnes of foodgrain in open yards, while shocking, is hardly new or surprising. Remember the rural poor marching on godowns in Andhra Pradesh in 2001 in similar circumstances? The Supreme Court was quite right in jolting the Union government. “In a country where admittedly people are starving, it is a crime to waste even...
More »Ration shops to go hi-tech by Ravleen Kaur
AGRICULTURE minister Sharad Pawar has launched Smart Cards in Haryana and Chandigarh as a pilot project aimed at streamlining the public distribution system (PDS). Smart Cards will replace paper cards and the subsidised ration bought at fair price shops (FPS) will be recorded online. The smart card will have biometric identification details of the beneficiary like fingerprints and iris scans. A smart card will also record the amount of stock a...
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