- The most popular saying in India goes this way: Indians are consummately adept at devising an ingenious mechanism to browbeat the established order and/or circumvent any new policy measures introduced by the government authorities. Why is it only in India? we Indians are equally renowned for coming out with jugaad whenever and wherever opportunity presents itself to devise more than a workable solution in no time. As you are aware, millions of Indians have settled overseas over the years, contributing immensely to the growth of their newfound homes and bringing laurels to themselves as well as to the country. Little wonder, the global community wholeheartedly acknowledges the ingenuity of Indians in glowing terms.
PC: ET Realty
- Of course, the digitalization endeavours undertaken by the Union Government over the last few years are not only humongous, but the penetration of the medium is wide and far. Even though the ostensible reason for introducing the information-technology driven initiatives has considerably removed the quintessential middlemen from fleecing people, anti-social elements have found a way to con gullible Indians by devising indigenous ways and means in no time. Direct cash transfers have been a big revolutionary change that has happened in the last decade or so, benefiting millions of poor. As newspaper reports suggest, cash transfer is no substitute for last-mile public health in a vast country like ours. Let’s dwell on what happened recently in UP.
PC: Finshots
- Note that how a gang of UP govt insiders is believed to have used identities of at least three women, as a probe has revealed so far, to claim cash benefits of the Centre’s maternal health scheme Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY). The scamsters reportedly claimed benefits for 52 deliveries and nine sterilisations in three years in the names of just three women. It’s possibly the tip of the iceberg. All three revealed to the investigators that their village’s do-gooder had them open accounts, promising govt benefits. The women never operated these accounts. At first, the old question: how robust are the annual audits of such schemes? Who’s checking where the money’s going? Digital transformation was meant to remove the middlemen from social welfare measures.
PC: www.studyiq.com
- However, abysmal tech literacy among those targeted has meant tech shops of data entry have become the new mediators. Digitization shifted the welfare process from in-person to online application, removing a direct link between government and beneficiary – easy hunting for scammers. Second, the rash of schemes. The Centre runs 12 schemes for maternal health as of 2024. Interventions like JSY since 2005 have reduced India’s maternal mortality rate from 384 (2000) to 97 (2020) – but UP still bears 35% of India’s MMR burden. Undoubtedly, leakages abound. Despite so many schemes, pregnant women in pre-poll Delhi were promised more cash transfers. Crooks are everywhere; we need to tighten the screws further. Even digitally.
