-The Indian Express The Aadhaar is no solution to the problems of the Midday Meal Scheme The Aadhaar scheme was initiated by the UPA government about seven years ago. But it is to the credit of the current Narendra Modi-led government that it saw the potential of Aadhar as an enabler of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes and used it for the dispersal of subsidies. But the government has got it wrong...
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Cash-for-all worth a debate: Economic Survey
-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Universal Basic Income (UBI) or direct cash transfer is a powerful idea that mandates serious discussion, the Economic Survey said on Tuesday as it presented scenarios both for and against the scheme — which is aimed at eradicating poverty. It said that a UBI that reduces poverty to 0.5% would cost between 4-5% of GDP, assuming that those in the top 25% income bracket do...
More »Ten Things For Which Aadhaar Was Made Mandatory Even After an October 2015 Supreme Court Order to the Contrary -Arshu John
-Caravan Magazine Since the Aadhaar programme, which aims to provide Indian citizens with unique identification numbers, was launched in 2009, several petitions have been filed before the Supreme Court that oppose its application by the government. These petitions have challenged the Aadhaar programme on various grounds: the government’s right to ask the citizens to provide biometric data for Aadhaar verification without adequate safeguards against its potential misuse; the legality of the...
More »Poor swiped out in choice-less, not cash-less, society -Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey
-The Indian Express For the poor, with little cash in the first place, digital promises to ‘swipe’ them out, before their marginalisation is even addressed. Demonetisation is, by its very nature, an autocratic, coercive step. The demonetisation of November 2016 has affected every single Indian. We are, as usual, persuaded to bear the pain and suffering, to “sacrifice” for the nation. The rhetoric continues but it now seems clear that the objective...
More »10-rupee bait for cashless campaign -Ananya Sengupta
-The Telegraph New Delhi: Each citizen who performs at least two cashless transactions with the government will earn their district administration an extra Rs 10 from the Niti Aayog, to be spent on promoting e-payments across the population. This incentive comes over and above a sum of Rs 5 lakh that every district will receive for the campaign, launched today to try and make all government-citizen transactions cashless. As part of the drive,...
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