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Moving a step ahead toward cash transfers in lieu of rations, postal staff in Delhi have started making the rounds of Delhi slums to get people to open accounts.
“We are being asked to pay Rs 50 and submit two photos, after which money will be transferred to our post office accounts,” Ms Sonia, from the Kusumpur Pahadi slum area in Delhi said. She said most people may be keen on cash, but not as a replacement for rations.
A survey of about 4,000 households in 55 slums and resettlement colonies in Delhi, released here on Thursday, shows that most people preferred subsidised foodgrain instead of cash.
In fact, 91.4 per cent of respondents said that they preferred a reformed Public Distribution System over cash transfers, said Ms Dipa Sinha, a research scholar associated with Rozi Roti Adhikar Abhiyan, an umbrella of many rights organisations.
On the Government’s claim of indexing the cash transfers to inflation, Ms Sinha said the experience with cash schemes has not been good. She cited the example of old age pension, which started in 1998 at Rs 75 till 2006, when it was raised to Rs 275. In any case, only 63 per cent said received their pensions regularly, she added.
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