{"id":56258,"date":"2020-02-29T17:05:38","date_gmt":"2020-02-29T11:35:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogadmin.forumias.com\/?page_id=56258"},"modified":"2020-02-29T17:05:38","modified_gmt":"2020-02-29T11:35:38","slug":"answered-critically-analyse-whether-the-aadhaar-based-biometric-authentication-has-been-able-to-reduce-pds-leakages-or-not","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/answered-critically-analyse-whether-the-aadhaar-based-biometric-authentication-has-been-able-to-reduce-pds-leakages-or-not\/","title":{"rendered":"[Answered] Critically analyse whether the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication has been able to reduce PDS leakages or not."},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n Demand of the question<\/strong>\n Introduction.\n <\/strong>Contextual introduction.\n Body.\n <\/strong>Discuss if the Aadhaar-based biometric\n authentication has been able to reduce PDS leakages or not.\n Conclusion.\n <\/strong>Way forward.\n <\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

India has been ranked at 102nd<\/sup>\nplace among 117 economies in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2019. To tackle\nIndia\u2019s hunger issue government introduced National Food Security Act which\nprovides monthly subsidised food grains through public distribution system\n(PDS). The PDS has historically suffered from high rates of leakage (often\nexceeding 50%). To tackle this, Aadhaar-based biometric authentication (ABBA)\nwas launched.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Benefit\nof Aadhaar-based biometric authentication:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

  1. Prevent false beneficiaries: <\/strong>Leakages are largely due to ghost and duplicate\nbeneficiaries using fake identities to avail these benefits. ABBA help in\nreducing these ghosts and vastly improve efficiency in welfare delivery. <\/li>
  2. Reduction in leakages: <\/strong>After the complete rollout of ABBA, the\ngovernment began disbursing grain to ration shops on the basis of authenticated\ntransactions. The researchers found that this significantly reduced the total\ndisbursal of grain and consequently, leakages.<\/li>
  3. 3.     \nBetter Beneficiary experience: <\/strong>A study in Andhra Pradesh, where biometric\nauthentication reduced leakages has reflected improved beneficiary experience\ndue to less waiting time and timely availability of grains. <\/li>
  4. 4.     \nEnable individual entitlements:<\/strong> Linking\nAadhaar to ration card holders enables the government to provide individual,\nrather than household entitlements. This makes allocations more transparent and\nalso addresses the challenge of larger households receiving insufficient\nfoodgrain.<\/li>
  5. 5.     \nCommunity participation in monitoring:<\/strong>\nCommunities in both rural and urban India have turned to Right to Information,\nas well as public activism, in order to access FPS records and monitor the\nfunctioning of ration shops. Clear accountability through Aadhaar\nauthentication, as well as the use of electronic records, make data more\navailable for community monitoring and strengthen the use of RTI in PDS.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    Issues\nof Aadhaar-based biometric authentication:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    1. Minimal impact: <\/strong>A recently released study, based on randomised-controlled\ntrial in Jharkhand found that ABBA by itself did not significantly change\neither leakage or the value of PDS goods received by households on average.<\/li>
    2. Quantity fraud: <\/strong>The main vulnerability today, is not identity fraud (e.g.\nbogus cards), but quantity fraud. PDS dealers often give people less than what\nthey are entitled to, and pocket the rest. ABBA is powerless to prevent\nquantity fraud. <\/li>
    3. Reduced beneficiaries: <\/strong>For the beneficiaries who had not linked an\nAadhaar to their ration cards at baseline, ABBA reduced the value of benefits\nreceived and increased the fraction of beneficiaries receiving no benefits at\nall due to lack of Aadhaar linking.<\/li>
    4. Exclusion errors: <\/strong>Attempts to reduce corruption has generated exclusion\nerrors and pain to genuine beneficiaries. <\/li>
    5. Extra burden:<\/strong> To claim ration worth Rs. 40, beneficiaries in the Aadhaar\nsystem incurred an additional Rs. 7 of costs than those in the old system. This\nis a 17% extra cost burden of the value of the benefit they were entitled to\nreceive.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

      Way\nforward:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

      1. Increasing internet penetration:<\/strong> The Aadhaar-based solution will be strengthened by the\n expanding mobile and internet connectivity across India. <\/li>
      2. Cash transfer:<\/strong>\n Instead of distributing food at subsidised price, the government may\n transfer cash directly to the account of the poor. They may be provided\n with an option to choose between cash transfer and subsidised food.<\/li>
      3. Universal basic income:<\/strong> Universal basic income to poor can help in uplifting them. It\n empower them economically and allow them to use money according to their\n needs.<\/li>
      4. Using other identification methods: <\/strong>Other than Aadhaar, identity cards like voter can be used to\n link with PDS and provide benefit.<\/li><\/ol>\n\n\n\n

        ABBA although was aimed to reduce leakages\nhas made limited impact. It has not removed all the issues in PDS like quantity\nfraud. Rather, Aadhar based authentication has led to many issues and pain to\nthe poor. Thus, other alternatives like direct cash transfer or universal basic\nincome must be explored.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Demand of the question Introduction. Contextual introduction. Body. Discuss if the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication has been able to reduce PDS leakages or not. Conclusion. Way forward. India has been ranked at 102nd place among 117 economies in the Global Hunger Index (GHI) 2019. To tackle India\u2019s hunger issue government introduced National Food Security Act which… Continue reading [Answered] Critically analyse whether the Aadhaar-based biometric authentication has been able to reduce PDS leakages or not.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-56258","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/56258\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/forumias.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}