The outcome of a social audit (conducted in April this year) related to the pilot cash transfer programme in the public distribution system (PDS) in Nagri block (Ranchi district) has confirmed that most beneficiaries want back the normal ration system that existed previously. Yet the Jharkhand state government continues with the DBT-based PDS in Nagri block, instead of returning back to the older system, says a press release by the...

-The Telegraph State ignoring ground realities of malnutrition, busy trying to prove every victim was ailing, says Drèze Ranchi: Right to Food Campaign activists claim the Jharkhand government was doing precious little to arrest the circumstances that force people to starve and die, but was continuing to "shamelessly marshal" all resources to prove after every starvation death that it was because of illness and not hunger. According to noted economist and activist, Jean...

-IIED Publication, June 2018 Traditional farmers in the Central and Eastern Indian Himalayas have observed significant climatic changes in recent years, reducing agricultural productivity. They have responded by innovating to increase resilience and yields, using traditional knowledge, biodiversity and external knowledge. This report explores key trends in livelihoods, food security, crop diversity and biocultural heritage across ten communities; the biocultural innovations developed in response to climatic and socioeconomic changes; and the social...

-Business Standard As a matter of fact, the study found that people are so unsatisfied with the DBT system being piloted by the government that they want to return to the previous system of grains distribution People in Nagri Block in Jharkhand have to wait for around 13 hours on average to be able to withdraw cash received through the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme and buy rice from the public distribution...

-Press Release by the Right to Food Campaign dated 21st June 2018 Jharkhand’s misguided “DBT for food subsidy” pilot in Nagri Block (Ranchi District) is yet to be discontinued, despite virtually unanimous opposition to it from Gram Sabhas. The sequence of events is as follows: 1. The Nagri pilot was initiated in early October 2017. Public protests erupted almost immediately and have continued ever since. 2. Under the DBT system, people have to...