Obituaries for the PDS system are a bit premature, based as they are on outdated data and presumptions. Despite flaws like pilfering and leakages, the system shows signs of improvement in certain states. States have demonstrated the political will to invest in the PDS, by putting in state resources to make it work. Cash transfers (CTs) are increasingly advocated as an alternative to the Public Distribution System (PDS). The proponents of...
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World Bank dictates India’s food policy by Tarun Nangia
The World Bank and a pliant UPA Government plan to do away with India's public distribution system and shut down four lakh ration shops. The excuse-the Public Distribution System (PDS) spends Rs 45,000 crore every year to supply BPL families wheat, rice, kerosene and sugar of which 60 per cent of grain is looted by the food mafia. The 412page 'World Bank Report: Social Protection for Changing India', released on...
More »Battle over the Anti-Violence Bill by John Dayal
Victims have not forgotten the following brutal tragedies in the life of independent India, even if the State and political parties may pretend to have. 1984—Delhi: On October 31, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated by her two Sikh bodyguards in revenge for ‘Operation Bluestar’. For the next three days, as Doordarshan telecast the lying in state of her body, over 3000 Sikhs—men and boys—were burnt alive while policemen, politicians and...
More »LIC to offer UIDs to 40 mn policyholders this year by Niladri Bhattacharya & Somasroy Chakraborty
To issue biometric cards to 50 million people every year for the next four years. Unique Identification Authority of India’s (UIDAI) plan to offer a unique identification number (UID) to every resident Indian is slated to get a fillip, with the country’s largest life insurer — Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) — saying it is ready to offer unique identification cards to its policyholders. About a year ago, LIC had signed...
More »What the UID project will not do by Vishv Bandhu Gupta
The concept of “a ubiquitous magic plastic” that bring out the unique in a living person has caught the fascination of most of us. An unpopular government sees in it the ability of cutting a long red tape short to correctly identify the genuine citizens in need. The agonised cops of India see in it a great ally to apprehend the much-wanted terrorists, whose biometric data could now be verified...
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