While the relief package announced by the Government of India for Covid-19 rightly complements food rations with cash transfers, the case for using the list of women Jan Dhan bank accounts for the latter is not clear. In this post, Anmol Somanchi shows that a little less than half of all households are likely be excluded from cash relief and discusses other limitations of this approach.

A vital component of the relief package announced by the Finance Minister on 26 March 2020 in response to the Corona pandemic was a direct cash transfer of Rs. 500 per month for three months (April-June 2020) to all 0.2 billion women Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) bank accounts. 1 While the relief package rightly complements food rations with cash transfers, the case for using the list of women PMJDY bank accounts for the latter is not clear. In the times of a crisis, it is essential for relief measures to be progressive, have minimal exclusion errors, and reach beneficiaries in a reliable and timely manner.