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Yes but that is vastly different from the benefits Aadhaar provides. With a ration or voter ID card, it was impossible to qualitatively figure out if the person

Yes but that is vastly different from the benefits Aadhaar provides. With a ration or voter ID card, it was impossible to qualitatively figure out if the person was truly below poverty line or not. It was due to Aadhaar that 1 crore+ LPG users gave up their subsidy. This was not due to a sudden change of heart for the fellow poor Indian citizen. It was instead the realisation that Aadhaar was linked to all bank accounts and it would become evident to the government how many of those are really poor. That's precisely the reason so many voluntarily gave up subsidy that they were illegally claiming. A ration card was being issued to every Tom, Dick and Harry before Aadhaar. The purpose of a ration card was only for those below poverty line and during war times. Plenty misused it for commercial purposes. It's so much better to procure subsidized rice at 2 rupees per kg and sell it in the open market for 50 rupees per kg. Government had no way to track this corruption. You might look at it as just a replacement for voter ID and ration card, but the real difference is felt by that poor man who is finally getting what was due to him.

captn3m0 9y ago
On benefits because of LPG subsidy: the benefits are vastly inflated in the government press figures. The real numbers are around 200-300cr if you remove the existing initiatives and inactive connections[0]. If you factor in the cost, this is not worth it. >the real difference is felt by that poor man who is finally getting what was due to him. The poor man was screwed by the middleman earlier (aadhaar does not solve quantity fraud - your fingerprint matching does not guarantee that the shopkeeper gives you exactly 5kg of your quota of ration) and continues to be screwed by the middleman. At the same time, the DBT scheme has seen intense opposition from people on the ground. >According to a press note issued by the campaign, Rai did not deny the results of the survey that said 97% of people are unhappy with the new system. Rai here is Jharkhand’s food minister Saryu Rai Daily Wage laborers have been most impacted by DBT[1] in their ability to get benefits timely because of exclusion issues with aadhaar, but the government keeps marking these figures off as "savings". [0]: https://medium.com/karana/lpg-savings-due-to-aadhaar-is-only-107-203-crores-4b26bdcff902 https://medium.com/karana/lpg-savings-due-to-aadhaar-is-only... [1]: https://thewire.in/rights/jharkhand-nagri-ration-pds-direct-benefit-transfer https://thewire.in/rights/jharkhand-nagri-ration-pds-direct-...
- iguy 9y ago
  This implementation of DBT sounds crazy. If the market price of wheat is Rs. 30, and the old system was that the ration shop used to sell it at Re. 1 + the ration coupon, then the value of the coupon was Rs. 29. If the new system was that you put Rs. 29 into everyone's bank account, then well maybe the ATM is a longer walk than the shop etc. But if the new system is to give people only Re. 1 then no wonder there's a riot! Am I reading your [1] correctly? The problem is a 30-fold reduction in subsidy, not a new delivery infrastructure?
  - shripadk 9y ago
    Going by your example, the government deposits Rs. 29 into the account. The beneficiary has to pay Rs. 1 and withdraw the rest from bank.
  - captn3m0 9y ago
    You're reading it wrong. You get 29 INR in your bank account, and add another 1 INR to pay 30 to the subsidy to the shop. But while earlier it was just a walk to the shop and getting your ration card stamped, now you must: 1. Go to your bank (which may not even have a branch in your village) 2. Hope that the network is up 3. Confirm that the money has reached your account. If not, go home and retry (1) on another day 4. Withdraw the money and then go buy your ration at the subsidy shop Edit: This the relevant quote from the article: >Earlier, people would take their ration cards [...] and be able to purchase rice at Re 1/kg, with each member of a priority household allotted five kg. Now, [...] – money is first transferred into each household’s Aadhaar-linked bank account. They have to then withdraw this as cash, take it to the local ration dealer and buy rice at Rs 32/kg – of which Re 1/kg comes from the ration card holder [and the rest comes from the subsidy that you withdraw as cash].
    - iguy 9y ago
      OK, thanks! Sounds like a massive business opportunity for banking. Your village may not have an ATM but I bet it has cellphone signal. Wasn't every Kenyan SMS-ing money around a decade ago?

captn3m0 9y ago

On benefits because of LPG subsidy: the benefits are vastly inflated in the government press figures. The real numbers are around 200-300cr if you remove the existing initiatives and inactive connections[0]. If you factor in the cost, this is not worth it. >the real difference is felt by that poor man who is finally getting what was due to him. The poor man was screwed by the middleman earlier (aadhaar does not solve quantity fraud - your fingerprint matching does not guarantee that the shopkeeper gives you exactly 5kg of your quota of ration) and continues to be screwed by the middleman. At the same time, the DBT scheme has seen intense opposition from people on the ground. >According to a press note issued by the campaign, Rai did not deny the results of the survey that said 97% of people are unhappy with the new system. Rai here is Jharkhand’s food minister Saryu Rai Daily Wage laborers have been most impacted by DBT[1] in their ability to get benefits timely because of exclusion issues with aadhaar, but the government keeps marking these figures off as "savings". [0]: https://medium.com/karana/lpg-savings-due-to-aadhaar-is-only-107-203-crores-4b26bdcff902 https://medium.com/karana/lpg-savings-due-to-aadhaar-is-only... [1]: https://thewire.in/rights/jharkhand-nagri-ration-pds-direct-benefit-transfer https://thewire.in/rights/jharkhand-nagri-ration-pds-direct-...

iguy 9y ago
This implementation of DBT sounds crazy. If the market price of wheat is Rs. 30, and the old system was that the ration shop used to sell it at Re. 1 + the ration coupon, then the value of the coupon was Rs. 29. If the new system was that you put Rs. 29 into everyone's bank account, then well maybe the ATM is a longer walk than the shop etc. But if the new system is to give people only Re. 1 then no wonder there's a riot! Am I reading your [1] correctly? The problem is a 30-fold reduction in subsidy, not a new delivery infrastructure?
- shripadk 9y ago
  Going by your example, the government deposits Rs. 29 into the account. The beneficiary has to pay Rs. 1 and withdraw the rest from bank.
- captn3m0 9y ago
  You're reading it wrong. You get 29 INR in your bank account, and add another 1 INR to pay 30 to the subsidy to the shop. But while earlier it was just a walk to the shop and getting your ration card stamped, now you must: 1. Go to your bank (which may not even have a branch in your village) 2. Hope that the network is up 3. Confirm that the money has reached your account. If not, go home and retry (1) on another day 4. Withdraw the money and then go buy your ration at the subsidy shop Edit: This the relevant quote from the article: >Earlier, people would take their ration cards [...] and be able to purchase rice at Re 1/kg, with each member of a priority household allotted five kg. Now, [...] – money is first transferred into each household’s Aadhaar-linked bank account. They have to then withdraw this as cash, take it to the local ration dealer and buy rice at Rs 32/kg – of which Re 1/kg comes from the ration card holder [and the rest comes from the subsidy that you withdraw as cash].
  - iguy 9y ago
    OK, thanks! Sounds like a massive business opportunity for banking. Your village may not have an ATM but I bet it has cellphone signal. Wasn't every Kenyan SMS-ing money around a decade ago?