Cash or Food Security through the Public Distribution System? Evidence from a Randomized Controlled Trial in Delhi, India

Author(s):  
Shubhashis Gangopadhyay ◽  
Robert Lensink ◽  
Bhupesh Yadav
2021 ◽  
pp. 048661342110349
Author(s):  
Soumik Sarkar ◽  
Anjan Chakrabarti

Using the methodology of overdetermination, class process of surplus labor as the entry point and socially determined need of food security, we deliver an alternative class-focused rendition of the public distribution system (PDS) in India. We first surmise our theoretical framework to infer that the overdetermined and contradictory relation of class and social needs matter for PDS. Beyond the reasoning of being pro-poor, fair, or wasteful, we deploy this framework to reinterpret the formation of Indian PDS in the 1960s. Its demonstration requires revisiting the historical condition that shaped capital’s passive revolution through the post-independence Indian state and its subsequent crisis arising out of the contradictions and conflicts in the class-need space. We argue that PDS signals a case of success and not failure of capitalism.


2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 36-40
Author(s):  
T Thangalakshmi ◽  
V Suthacini

Food security in India is unfavourably affected by several biotic and socio-political situations. The current position may get worse in the future if timely and suitable actions are not executed and planned. The discipline of human population and land for cultivation, climate change, government policies of public distribution and marketing of food grains and lack of a participatory approach all are committing to check down the availability of foods. Also, crop fecundity seems to be very much unsustainable. The situation has to be remedied by all possible means and citizens must be assured of food security. This review summarises several strategies for crop production and food distribution through the public distribution system. Finally, results indicate that India has achieved self-sufficiency in grains; it is still lagging at the back in the production of oilseeds and pulses. It is also commented that there has been a meaningful increase in the reproduction of rice, wheat, cereals, fruits, vegetables, and other products. Among the specific charges made to lift the agricultural sector from its present slowdown and stagnation, we comprise decorated increased public investment and a severe review of subsidies provided to farmers. To improve the infrastructure, credit facilities, inputs, land and water management, effective marketing and price policies, the diversification of agriculture, strengthening the improvement strategies for tackling climate change, and the strict regulation of land use and diversion of land for non-agricultural activities.


2011 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 209-215 ◽  

In the pragmatic-explanatory continuum, a randomized controlled trial (RCT) can at one extreme investigate whether a treatment could work in ideal circumstances (explanatory), or at the other extreme, whether it would work in everyday practice (pragmatic). How explanatory or pragmatic a study is can have implications for clinicians, policy makers, patients, researchers, funding bodies, and the public. There is an increasing need for studies to be open and pragmatic; however, explanatory trials are also needed. The previously developed Pragmatic-explanatory continuum indicator summary (PRECIS) was adapted into the Pragmascope tool to assist mental health researchers in designing RCTs, taking the pragmatic-explanatory continuum into account. Ten mental health trial protocols were randomly chosen and scored using the tool by three independent raters. Their results were compared for consistency and the tool was found to be reliable and practical. This preliminary work suggests that evaluating different domains of an RCT at the protocol level is useful, and suggests that using the Pragmascope tool presented here might be a practical way of doing this.


Author(s):  
Ashok Kotwal ◽  
Bharat Ramaswami

This article begins by tracing the development of the Indian model of food distribution. Food subsidies in India are delivered through the public distribution system, consisting of a network of retail outlets through which the government sells grain. The discussions then turn to the outcomes and the performance of the distribution system, food security legislation, the rights approach to food security, debates over food security legislation, lessons from social assistance programs across the world, and political opposition to cash transfers.


Nutrients ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary R. Rooney ◽  
Kyle D. Rudser ◽  
Alvaro Alonso ◽  
Lisa Harnack ◽  
Amy K. Saenger ◽  
...  

Ionized Mg (iMg) is considered the biologically active fraction of circulating total Mg (tMg). It is possible that iMg may be a more physiologically relevant marker than tMg. Using data from a double-blind pilot randomized controlled trial, we tested (1) whether oral Mg supplementation will increase iMg concentrations compared with placebo and (2) the relationship between iMg and tMg at baseline. Additionally, we evaluated the agreement between iMg measured in fresh whole blood versus stored samples. A total of fifty-nine participants were randomized 1:1 to oral Mg supplementation (400 mg/day, Mg Oxide) or placebo for 10 weeks. Fasting blood samples were obtained at baseline and follow-up. The analysis used linear regression and an intent-to-treat approach. Participants were generally healthy, the mean age was 62, and 73% were female. The baseline iMg and tMg were modestly and positively associated (r = 0.50). The ratio of baseline iMg to tMg was 64%. The mean supplement effect on iMg was 0.03 mmol/L (95% CI:0.01, 0.05) for Mg supplementation versus placebo. The supplement effect on iMg was not statistically significantly different according to baseline iMg status (above/below median). Compared to fresh blood, iMg was consistently higher in refrigerated and frozen samples by 0.14 and 0.20 mmol/L, respectively. In this relatively healthy adult population, Mg supplementation over 10 weeks resulted in increased iMg concentrations. Whether iMg is a more appropriate measure of Mg status than tMg, and the public health or clinical utility of measuring iMg remains to be determined.


2021 ◽  
pp. 001955612110457
Author(s):  
O. Grace Ngullie ◽  
Arib Ahmad Ansari

The sheer extent of the Covid-19 pandemic and its crippling effect on the entire economy gave cold creeps. Suddenly the fragile, one-of-a-kind arrangement through which the daily wagers and the migrant workers were surviving broke down with the imposition of the lockdown, and we had a novel disaster on our hands. In such a hanging-by-thread situation, the adversely affected poor had to rely on the government machinery for sustenance. We attempt to undertake a first-hand evidence-based study of the implementation of the Public Distribution System in Delhi while examining the impact of the pandemic on livelihood and food security. Some policy gaps that we have identified include inconsistency with the quantity and quality of rations received and promised, exclusion and ultimately access to food. Based on the empirical examination of the specific problems faced by the poor on the ground, we recommend policy solutions corresponding to those specific problems which include utilising modern and emerging technologies, creating new cadre for monitoring and upwardly revising the allocation.


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