Demanding Development: The Politics of Public Goods Provision in India’s Urban Slums by Adam Michael Auerbach, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2019; pp 304, ₹649.
We are a group of research scholars and student volunteers who have just spent three weeks surveying the public distribution system (PDS) around the country. We are writing to share a few thoughts on the National Food Security Act in the light of this experience.
The government of India has shifted from cash payment of wages under the renamed Mahatma Gandhi Employment Guarantee Scheme to settlement through bank accounts. This has been done in order to prevent defrauding of workers and to give them greater control over their wages. Has this been achieved after the switch? Based on a survey in December 2008 in one block each in Allahabad (Uttar Pradesh) and Ranchi (Jharkhand) districts, this article probes questions related to payment of wages through banks.
