-The Economic Times On November 9, 2012, the government announced that from January 2013, 51 districts of the country would be subjected to Aadhaar- based direct cash transfers (DCT). We need some basic answers before we get to term the initiative as a game-changer. Aadhaar and the link with bank accounts: The Reserve Bank of India, initially having notified that Aadhaar number as valid for opening a bank account for know-your-customer norms,...
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No need for hype but certainly a hope-Jairam Ramesh and Varad Pande
-The Hindu The Direct Benefits Transfer Initiative is the real tool against corruption that will ensure that the welfare state doesn’t degenerate into a farewell state We are grateful to Narendar Pani (Editorial page, “Cashing in on schemes for poor,” November 29, 2012) and Bharat Bhatti and Madhulika Khanna (Editorial page, “Neither effective nor equitable,” December 4, 2012) for starting a useful debate on the United Progressive Alliance government’s Direct Benefits Transfer...
More »Aadhaar can fix Kotkasim-like problems: Jairam -Rukmini Shrinivasan
-The Times of India Is Aadhaar the difference between what happened in Kotkasim and what could have been? That's the stand the government is taking, but the critics of the Unique Identification (UID) disagree. After TOI wrote on Sunday of how payment delays were threatening to undo a pilot programme in which cash is transferred to a person's account in place of the kerosene subsidy in Kotkasim, Rajasthan, rural development minister Jairam...
More »Dr Anand Teltumbde, Dalit intellectual, thinker and human rights activist interviewed by Prasanna D Zore
-Rediff.com On July 14, the Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court commuted the death sentence awarded to six convicts in the Khairlanji murder case to 25 years' rigorous imprisonment. On September 29, 2006, a mob brutally raped a mother and daughter before killing them along with her two sons. Surekha Bhotmange (then 42), Priyanka Bhotmange (17), Roshan Bhotmange (19) and Sudhir Bhotmange (21) belonged to one of the three Dalit families...
More »Unique identity crisis-Latha Jishnu, Jyotika Sood
-Down to Earth Biometric-based unique identity or Aadhaar is leading to huge problems for people working for the rural employment guarantee scheme and for others receiving welfare benefits. Not only have enrolments been done shoddily but the experience of the pilot projects shows that it is almost impossible to authenticate the work-hardened fingerprints of the poor, find Latha Jishnu and Jyotika Sood. Besides, there is the overwhelming issue of deficient online...
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