-India Spend Team The public distribution system (PDS) is meant to play a key role in disbursing government support to the poorest Indians during the ongoing COVID-19 crisis. However, the system leaves more than 100 million people excluded from its reach, as per academics Jean Drèze, Reetika Khera and Meghana Mungikar, because the central government uses 2011 population figures from the last census to calculate state-wise PDS coverage. Under the National Food...
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100 million Indians fall through gaps in food safety net, economists urge rethink on Covid-19 relief
-Scroll.in The Central government is using outdated population figures to determine grain allocations to states under the food security law. Millions of Indians live on the verge of hunger even in normal times. Now, with the coronavirus epidemic sweeping the world and India declaring a five week-long economic lockdown to contain it, hunger threatens an even larger population which has no income to buy food. As part of its economic central government has...
More »From apathy to action -Reetika Khera
-The Hindu In dealing with the crisis, the Centre should not only learn from States but also act on its own In dealing with the health and economic crisis, the Central government’s apathy is disappointing. The Prime Minister’s speech created panic even for the well-off. For the most vulnerable, it triggered a huge exodus from the cities. They were given neither time to prepare for the unplanned lockdown nor support to cope...
More »Covid-19: What can be done immediately to help vulnerable population -Reetika Khera
-IdeasforIndia.in With over 80% of India’s workforce employed in the informal sector and one-third working as casual labour, Covid-19's spread and subsequent unplanned lockdowns, have created economic havoc in the lives of millions. In this post, Reetika Khera puts forward suggestions on what can be done to help people immediately, ranging from cash and in-kind assistance to special measures for migrants in urban areas and urgent health-related measures. The spread of the...
More »Smarter than Aadhaar -Reetika Khera
-The Indian Express Viable solutions to PDS portability are being ignored in the push for Aadhaar. Migrants’ woes are often invoked in making a case for portability of benefits in the public distribution system (PDS). Most recently, an article (‘A hundred small steps’, IE, September 26) did just that. However, in many cases of short-term seasonal migration (a dominant form in India), only one or two of the household members migrate,...
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