Cash Transfer: Two Sides of the Story
Exploring whether the benefits of the cash transfer scheme reach the real beneficiaries— the poorest of the poor—this article discusses the challenges facing the government’s latest scheme for poverty alleviation
“Cash instead of rice? Our life will go back in time,” says Dashmi didi, member of Malati Mahila Swa Sahayta Samhooh of Mangalpur, a small village of 70 Mariya (a tribe)-inhabited households in Darbha block of Bastar district. Years ago, before the PDS system of food subsidy was functional, all families in the Mangalpur hamlet used to have two houses. One by the main street of the village, along with their homestead land and another makeshift house built near the agriculture fields between the months of sowing and harvest. “Too much robbery!” exclaims Butki didi, Dashmi’s neighbour. “If for even a single night, the fields were left unattended—even if it were before the paddy ripens—the crop used to be chopped off and stolen. That’s why we in the family take turns to sleep in the makeshift house near our land.”
T he cash transfer scheme for Butki and Dashmi seems more of a bane than a boon-especially with regard to the PDS system. They also fear that once the subsidy for rice and the ration shop is substituted by direct cash transfer, the prices of rice in the market will shoot up. It will, therefore, become difficult and close to impossible to gain access to quality rice grain.
Manglu, the sarpanch of Teeratgarh panchayat is of the opinion that providing cash is not the solution to meet the issue of hunger and food sufficiency. “Paisa bank seniklega zaroor, par woh chawal ke dukaan tak pahunchega nahin. Beech ka landa aur mandh ki dukaan main hi ud jaayega. Dada ka pet landa aur mandh se bhar jaayega, par ghar mein didi aur bachhe bhookhe marenge. (The money will be drawn from the bank all right, but it won’t be spent on buying food grain. The money will be spent in liquor shops, which lie on the way to the grocery shop. While the man of the family fills his stomach with the local liquor, the women and children at home will starve to death).” He claims that the villagers will spend the money received through the cash transfer scheme on alcohol than food grain.