Activists, politicians attack direct cash transfer scheme

New Delhi, Nov 28 (IANS) Many social activists and political leaders, including Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy and Brinda Karat, Wednesday criticised the government’s new scheme for direct cash transfer of subsidy amount to the beneficiearies.

“Direct cash transfer is a terrible lie as poor people will not be able to access their accounts in which the government will transfer the money,” independent legal researcher Usha Ramanathan said at a ‘People’s Assembly’ here.

“When pension of the people does not reach on time, what is the guarantee that cash will transferred to their accounts on time?” she said.

Activists Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey also criticised the scheme and said the government wanted to end the public distribution system which would benefit the corporations.

The activist had gathered at the ‘People’s Assembly’ organised by non−government organisations in the national capital.

They said that in the name of direct cash transfer through unique ‘Aadhaar’ numbers, the government wanted to just enrol people so that they could decide who were poor and who were not.

Earlier, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Prakash Javadekar and Communist Party of India−Marxist leader Brinda Karat joined the chorus in attacking the scheme.

IANS 2012-11-28 21:36:17