Smart card technology could be considered a useful tool to combat poverty and hunger according to P K Sinha, a physics professor in Agre, India, according to a reorty in the Business Standard. Currently the government of India is working on assigning a unique identification number to each citizen. It is the hope of Sinha that this project leads to the issuing of smart identity cards that will provide social security, education and health to the people. They will also be used as permanent account numbers for taxation purposes.
The use of smart card technology will allow those in need to be identified as eligible for Sinha’s schemes. According to Sinha, the card should provide full social security benefits to all those in possession, estimating a cost of Rs 2,000 per person per year. In addition all card-holders should get free food, oil, salt, kerosene and clothes.
When addressing education reform Sinha suggests a higher education system in which the student with a card pays back in the form of additional taxes once he or she starts working.
The total expense, he says, will be about Rs 1,947 billion per year and will make a significant stride in the government’s aim to end hunger and poverty.
A detailed look into Sinha’s cures for social reform can be found in his book, ‘Curing the Ills of India.’
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