In this Times of India piece, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje writes:

"A modern state is a welfare state. But a modern state does not “spray and pray” with its subsidies...

Currently ration shops in Rajasthan stock only three items (wheat, sugar and kerosene), are open only one week a month, treat citizens poorly, and have high subsidy leakage because we lack the online infrastructure to cross reference inventory, consumption and eligibility. Over the next year the state government will rebrand 5,000 of our 25,542 ration shops in a public private partnership as Annapurna Bhandars: They will stay open all month, sell more than 150 products at prices regulated by the government, start home delivery and join an online platform.

In parallel, all families with state government issued Bhamashah cards will have the option to choose between direct cash credit of subsidies to bank accounts or getting non-cash subsidised goods that trigger an SMS to their cellphone when their eligibility amount is issued by any ration shop...

Much of the Rs 80,000 crore outstanding debt of the Rajasthan State Electricity Board represents wasteful subsidies that could have been spent on roads, education or skills. A former prime minister once said that only 15% of government expenditure reaches the poor...

Economic theory is divided over the relative efficacy of cash versus non-cash subsidies but experience from Mexico, Brazil and the US suggests that cash transfers have smaller leakages and women are more responsible custodians of subsidy spending than men...

The enemy of subsidy spending is leakage to people who do not need it. The Rajasthan government’s consolidated and de-duplicated Bhamashah database will issue a card to every family that will be linked to a bank account in the name of the lady of the house. Bhamashah’s Aadhaar authenticated database makes it an effective platform for financial inclusion, health insurance, ration shops, education scholarships, Mgnrega payments, and much else – because all families will receive an SMS for all cash or non-cash transactions linked to their card...

It’s safe to predict that over the next few decades government expenditure in India will rise substantially from the current 16% of GDP; comparable numbers are 57% for Denmark, 40% for the US and 25% for Brazil. However, a populous country like India must balance targeted government subsidies with alternate social justice solutions like infrastructure, education, skills and jobs..."