-Odisha Economy Discussion Series-2, April 2019, Nabakrushna Choudhury Centre for Development Studies, Bhubaneswar Purpose – The recently launched KALIA scheme of the Government of Odisha is a massive direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme aimed at improving the condition of around three million farm households along with that of landless cultivators, sharecroppers, agricultural labourers, and vulnerable households. However, evaluations of the impacts of the scheme are likely to face difficulties in the...

-IndiaSpend.com Mumbai: As 128 children died of encephalitis in Bihar over 19 days to June 21, 2019, a new study reports that the state’s rural population prefers government investment in public healthcare over roads, jobs and cash transfers. In a survey conducted by the Brookings Institution, an American research group, in an administrative block of Bihar, 3,800 respondents--comprising the poor, less-educated and disadvantaged caste groups--were asked to make a choice: an incremental...

-The Hindu Business Line The 60% jump over last year is due to DBT in fertiliser where Rs.39,230 cr was transferred Mumbai: Direct benefit transfer of subsidies in cash and kind crossed the Rs.3-lakh crore mark in 2018-19 to 123.8 crore beneficiaries through over 351-crore transactions. Official data reveals that DBT in both cash and kind amounted to Rs.3,06,260 crore last fiscal, a 60 per cent jump from Rs.1,90,870.9 crore in 2017-18. A significant...

-Livemint.com * Only 13% surveyed chose cash if it came at the expense of spending to improve public health and nutrition * The number grew to 35% if the cash came at the expense of improving roads New Delhi: A timely survey conducted in rural Bihar by a World Bank economist and two professors from the Georgetown University to gauge the response of poor people on the raging debate over a minimum income...

-The Hindu Governments can provide Direct Cash Transfers while creating conditions for employment With the Congress promising through the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) scheme ?6,000 every month to the poorest 20% of households if voted to power, Mahendra Dev and Pronab Sen talk of the importance and problems of Direct Cash Transfers. Providing social protection is important even as governments try to create conditions for income-generating activities, they say in a discussion...