After reaping rich dividends from NREGA in the 2009 general elections, it was expected of the Congress to come up with something more effective for vote transfer in 2014. A cash transfer scheme requires careful scrutiny of all provisions and effective checks of leakages, especially in a country where there is large-scale poverty, illiteracy, corruption and political manipulation. The government must take a leaf out of the most successful cash transfer scheme in the world, Brazil’s Bolsa Familia, which has many provisions like transfer through government owned banks and public enlisting of beneficiaries.
What is worrying is the haste with which the UPA government is pushing the scheme without adequately addressing serious concerns raised by civil society organisations. In a highly patriarchal society like ours, the misuse of the cash by male heads of the family is a distinct possibility and needs to be addressed. Without an effective and transparent mechanism for selecting the beneficiaries, there is every chance of manipulation by the party in power.
What is worrying is the haste with which the UPA government is pushing the scheme without adequately addressing serious concerns raised by civil society organisations. In a highly patriarchal society like ours, the misuse of the cash by male heads of the family is a distinct possibility and needs to be addressed. Without an effective and transparent mechanism for selecting the beneficiaries, there is every chance of manipulation by the party in power.
Published in The Hindu on 30th November 2012
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