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Current Affairs Archive
I have not been updating it often enough…if this goes on, I may rename this page “history”!
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Poverty-line debate: Time for Montek to criticize Montek
Posted on March 23, 2012 | No CommentsIndia’s Planning Commission fixed the poverty-line at Rs. 29 per person per day (around ½ USD at today’s rate) attracting severe criticism that the amount is unreasonably low. The Commission’s Vice Chairperson, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, mounted a spirited defence of the poverty-line in CNN-IBN recently. He argued that the poverty line is used only to measure the trends in poverty over time, and it does not indicate the level of poverty, and so the level of poverty-line does not really matter. In other words, this number is only a benchmark based on which we can find out whether the number... -
Classrooms without walls
Posted on December 21, 2011 | No CommentsAfter watching a news report on the appalling number of schools in India without even a building to house it in, I saw an advertisement mentioning “My classroom has no walls, I have no ceiling”. I would have thought that it were a fundraising advertisement to build schools, but for the white smiling face in the ad. It turns out in this strange world that classrooms without walls can also be sold as an opportunity. -
Corruption in the PDS & will coupons or cash transfer work better?
Posted on May 26, 2011 | 2 CommentsThis is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here . The level of corruption in the public distribution system has been one of the rallying points in the cry for change. The following are some of the corruption related arguments for change: There is large scale corruption in the system It is undeniable that there is a lot of corruption in the PDS, and something needs to be done about it. In arguing that we should shift from PDS to coupons or... -
The politics of PDS “reforms”
Posted on May 26, 2011 | No CommentsThis is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here . Some scholars have pointed out that the motivation to dissolve the PDS comes from the ideological belief that the government should not be engaged in providing public services, and of course the material appeal this has for the rich. The quest for PDS reform started in the context of India’s liberalization and globalization. Pushed by multilateral agencies, the PDS was converted into a targeted system in 1997. The motivation of these reforms... -
Coupons and cash transfers give people a choice unlike the PDS
Posted on May 26, 2011 | No CommentsThis is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here . Paying cash instead of grains will give people a choice Another strong argument for coupons or cash is that the recipients will have the choice to spend it on what matters most to them. Proponents of reform have argued that the Indian policymakers tend to be paternalistic, and often argue that if the government gives cash instead of grains, poor people may misuse it, including by drinking it away. They have argued... -
PDS does not reach the right people, let’s shift to cash transfers or coupons
Posted on May 26, 2011 | No CommentsThis is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here . Many have argued that half the PDS entitlements reach the “non poor”. I believe that resources are scarce, and the government should spend the money on people who need it most. We should thus be concerned if resources are being spent on those who do not need it. In considering whether resources reach the right people, we should remember that we have a rather poor system of identifying the poor. The poverty-line... -
The PDS does not work, let’s shift to coupons or cash transfers
Posted on May 26, 2011 | No CommentsThis is a part of a series of articles on the proposal to shift from PDS to coupons or cash transfers. To see the introduction, click here . In evaluating alternatives including cash transfers, it is first important to identify both contributions and failures of the system. Proponents of reforms today have focused exclusively on the problems, without dwelling on the things that it has done. There is a reason why the PDS is so popular in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra and increasingly in other states including Chhattisgarh. In all these cases the PDS has worked and means a lot... -
Understanding UID through “radio tags”
Posted on February 2, 2011 | No Comments“Do you want to wear an anklet or do you want to go to prison?” said a US consular officer in Hyderabad about the tagging of some Indian students in the United States to monitor their movements. These anklets contain a GPS device that closely monitors the movements of the students, and will alert officials in case they move beyond areas that they have been authorised to. The anklets provide a useful analogy to the Unique ID (UID) project by the government of India. Let me explain. In an article entitled Prison without walls, Graeme Wood argues that such radio... -
Why even those who oppose Naxalism should support Binayak Sen
Posted on December 31, 2010 | No CommentsBinayak Sen has just received a life-term jail sentence for sedition or waging war against the state. The specific crime, according to the judgement, was that he conveyed three letters written by a Maoist leader to a Calcutta-based trader. This was supported by a broader claim that Binayak Sen and his wife Ilina have known Maoists, and that Binayak even had Maoist literature at his home! Callous evidence The evidence presented for the critical claims of the case have been disputed. He met Narayan Sanyal several times in jail, under the supervision of jailors and was searched before and after... -
Has the Bihari citizen spoken?
Posted on December 11, 2010 | No CommentsThe 2010 Bihar election clearly reflected people’s voice, but sustained engagement by all sections of the society would be required for these voices to shape the government. In a press conference following the massive victory in the election, the Chief Minister Nitish Kumar remembered the massive changes that have happened in the electoral atmosphere of Bihar. As soon as the election got over, we would visit hospitals or families of dead people. It did not look like an election; it looked like war, he recalled. He also characterised erstwhile strategies of political parties during elections as logon ka kayal kam,...
