-The Hindu The audit has also found substantial systemic problems with the Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG scheme, called Pahal by the government. The Centre claims it would end up saving almost Rs. 22,000 crore in the financial years of 2014-15 and 2015-16 since launching its two-pronged approach on cooking gas subsidy — introducing direct bank transfers of the subsidy and asking better off consumers to voluntarily give up theirs. However, a CAG...
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Freedom in peril -R Ramakumar
-Frontline The government’s passage of the Aadhaar Bill in complete disregard of even basic parliamentary procedures and in subversion of an ongoing judicial process puts at risk a number of constitutional rights and liberties of citizens. The benefits cited are just ploys to realise a neoliberal dream. “Congressmen are dancing as if [Aadhaar] was a herb for all cures. With the Supreme Court pulling up the Centre, people are now seeking...
More »LPG for every Indian household -Abhishek Jain
-The Hindu The Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana scheme, which recognises the importance of clean cooking energy, is welcome. But we need to focus on issues of cash flow, awareness, availability and administration Within a fortnight of the recently announced Union Budget, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, earmarking Rs. 8,000 crore for it, with the aim of providing five crore subsidised Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG)...
More »Widening the net beyond the income norm -Abhishek Jain & Shalu Agrawal
-The Hindu Less than 3 per cent of Indians pay income tax and a significant proportion under-reports taxable income. On December 28, 2015, the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas announced the exclusion of high-income households from the LPG subsidy cover. As per the official press release, subsidy would not be available for domestic LPG consumers, if the consumer or his/her spouse had taxable income of more than Rs. 10 lakh for...
More »LPG subsidy transfer: Centre’s savings not more than Rs 143 cr, while it claims Rs 12,700 cr -Udit Misra
-The Indian Express The NDA initially reintroduced DBT for LPG in 54 districts in mid-November 2014, with nationwide roll out to all districts from January 2015. A study by the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) states that the government’s claims of savings due to a shift towards direct benefit transfer (DBT) for LPG (also called PAHAL) are “large overestimates”. IISD has shown that as against the publicly touted figure of...
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