The Economic Survey 2010, which was presented in the Parliament a day before the general budget was announced, proposed a number of initiatives - from a coupon system to be implemented alongside the UID Project to a Right To Information platform for post offices and a pilot project SIMRAN by the railway department. The survey also highlights the performance of earlier projects and the growth of the telecom sector. It also offered updates on the national e-governance roll outs and utilisation of USO funds over the past year. UID: Coupon System According to the Economic Survey, the Unique Identification project will assist a proposed coupon system for assisting the poor. The coupon system is a suggested alternative to the subsidy in essential food items like wheat etc, that at present is handed down to the poor through PDS stores. The UID system will be complete by 2012. The UID is a project which aims at providing every resident of the country with a unique identification number. The UIDAI will start issuing the IDs in 12-18 months time, and plans to cover 600 million people within four years from the start of the project. Duty On Consumer Goods According to the Economic Survey, basic customs duty on LCD panels for manufacture of LCD televisions was reduced from 10 percent to 5 percent and full exemption from 4 percent special CVD on parts for manufacture of mobile phones and accessories was reintroduced for one year, i.e. up to July 6, 2010. Prasar Bharati's…
