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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: IS THE NEW AGE REALLY COMING?
1/2/2013 9:41:21 PM
Dear friends, here is more from Wes Annac for us to enjoy and assimilate - particularly at this time

Further Instructions for Ascending Gatekeepers

[2nd Dec 2013]

081smallThere are many of you out there who experienced some amazing things on or around the timeframe of December 21st, 2012, which include some of the apparent ascension symptoms outlined by Archangel Michael. As I’ve testified to, I certainly felt such symptoms myself and I continue to feel an adjustment to a purer state of consciousness.

I’m not going to say that myself or anyone else whom this writing is intended for have ascended, but I will state with happiness that we are finding purer states of consciousness that, for me at least, are acting as bridges to the fifth dimensional reality I’m beginning to be able to access. The fifth dimension is not apparent within our current outer reality yet, but we have now begun to be able to access it by tuning inwardly and personally, I feel this to be the greatest opportunity to begin really pumping-up our Lightwork.

There are some who may feel as if they have ascended or at the very least, felt some of the “ascension symptoms” we were told could be prevalent around the 21st and are now feeling amazingly-pure states of consciousness that are quite easy to tune-in to. I’ve “received” that there are indeed a plethora of us who are acting as Gatekeepers and placeholders for the fifth dimensional reality beginning to settle upon our reality and our perceptions, and that the Gatekeepers will begin to steadily realize their place and role in these times.

Some of you probably already feel your increasing role as Gatekeepers, and others will begin to understand this more as they find the metaphysical experiences accompanying what seems to have been an amazingly-pure date that, so many days later, I am still writing about and experiencing amazing effects from.

I know I am not the only one, as we have had quite a few reports from Lightworkers who experienced near-instant effects, as well as those who initially experienced moments of sadness and perceived loss before beginning to feel and understand the refinement taking place. Even those of us who may not feel as if they’ve began embracing the new paradigm or as if they are playing the role of Gatekeepers, can fulfill such a position if they make the commitment to.

That is the wonderful thing about this Gatekeeper role; it is not exclusive to any Earthly soul and it is simply that the Lightworkers who attuned to the heightened energies early-on realized and began to embrace the role many are now beginning to find. You can realize and embrace this role as well and if you do, you will be taking on a wonderful challenge that will test you and your commitment to this ascension.

The Gatekeepers are tasked with presenting and introducing the concepts of ascension and Oneness to the Earth public. Embracing such a role could mean having to take the criticism and skepticism that is still prevalent on our world, which is why one’s faith must be unwavering.

Your unwavering faith is not asked because the higher realms wish you to blindly embrace something, but if you have doubts within about our ascension that you have not worked through, you will find this role much more difficult to embrace. Having long fulfilled what to me has seemed to be a prototype version of this role for the past couple of years, I can say that you may likely take some criticism for the concepts you would attempt to introduce or put-forth.

Another wonderful thing about the Gatekeeper role is that it is not limited to one facet. What I mean is that you do not have to spread and disseminate ascension-related knowledge to perform the role of a Gatekeeper. You can undertake that facet of performing this role and it is highly recommend (as is undertaking every facet of this role) but there is much more you can do.

We are indeed asked to embrace and uphold the ideals and information pertaining to our ascension, spirituality and Oneness, and we can uphold such ideals simply by radiating the positivity we possess within that is driven from our ascension energies and the realms of full consciousness, outwardly to all those around us.

We can begin to understand our infinite power as spiritual beings undergoing a transforming and evolving human experience. We can begin to utilize our abilities to bless everything around us and use the natural healing abilities we all carry within to benefit our experience and those of as many who are accepting of our healing as possible.

Above all, the Gatekeepers are being asked to remain balanced and, whenever possible, positive in the face of possible difficulty along our paths. Our spiritual paths have been heightened for some time but we have truly entered a whole new phase of testing and intensity, and embracing the role of a Gatekeeper only intensifies our Life paths more.

We will be tested, as we have always been and this will happen whether you undertake the Gatekeeper role or not. Those of you who are could possibly find yourselves perceiving of our fifth dimensional New Earth, or more specifically, the gates you may be stationed at that are being used to funnel-through the energies of the work-in-progress that is our fifth dimensional Earth.

My fiancé, PocahontasBrandy, recently had a very interesting dream about these very gates which I will likely detail in another writing.

The role of Gatekeeper is just that – keeping and holding the space for the ascension energies to come through the portals or “merkabas” that can also be called energy gates. They are called energy gates because they are literal links from one dimension to the other (in this case, the 5th to the 3rd/4th) wherein energy is sent between such realms.

Having received impressions of the work being performed on our New Earth during meditation, I can say that the still-thousands of Lightworkers attuning to these realms as well as the ascended souls assisting them in shaping the landscape, are working away at providing the purest and most attainable of higher dimensional energies to serve as the very energetic links we are helping to hold in place.

Holding these energetic links in place will entail some difficulty and we will truly face ourselves and our ability and desire to remain steadfast to our ultimate goal of holding the space for the entire planet to enter the very higher vibrations we’re beginning to discover, interact with, and work to bring-forth in a reality that seems to have only taught separation, divisiveness and disharmony.

Overall, it is important for the Gatekeepers to know that such old ways (of separation and disharmony) are truly coming to an end, and that our inward participation in the many, many Lighted rituals occurring at present to further initiate and bring-forth our ascension energies is just as important as our continued focus on our goal.

It has been said that much is expected of those to whom much is given, and being one who has been given so very much by the Universe, I think we can also rearrange this statement to say that much is given to those of whom much is expected.

I say this because the role so many Lightworkers are undertaking as Gatekeepers will require much of them. It will require their spiritual focus and a continual affirmation of the beliefs forming their entrance into the higher realms. A balanced, centered, positive and allowing perspective is required to undertake this role because there are plenty of others even within the Lightworker community, who feel disillusioned at present by what is perceived to have been a non-event surrounding the 21st.

There are so many of us who felt a new role become illuminated for us and still others who experienced the most grand of visions, impressions and initiations, and it is understandable that some would lose faith in our ascension because of not having felt some of the wonderful upgrades that others were able to feel, even if only slightly.

This is why I restate that our positivity is essential because personally, I’ve experienced so many amazing things that the sometimes-negative perspectives expressed by others surrounding the 21st have hardly fazed me. I do feel for all those who don’t feel as if anything took place, but I certainly have my reasons for knowing within that something amazing happened and that we are still feeling the results of it.

Those of you who are embracing the role of Gatekeepers may feel the same way, and it is we who must reassure and let all those who feel disillusioned know that positive, higher dimensional change is indeedmanifesting. It hasn’t happened in a small timeframe but then again, it is a big job.

The largeness of this job makes it all the more important to begin working on, does it not?

This is why I encourage us all to embrace any of the personal new roles we may be finding for ourselves. I hope I have been able to help those of you who have found and embraced the role of Gatekeepers for our fifth dimensional energies to come through, better understand what is happening and what is humbly asked of you at this time and in the time ahead.

I wanted this to be a “handbook” or “instruction manual” of sorts for Gatekeepers and as I draw it to a close, I wish to express excitement for everything we are heading into.

I can truly feel some amazing energies and I can feel even more brimming to burst from within, and as we all unite together to co-Create our new paradigm of peace, cooperation and intense higher dimensionality in every form it has to offer – we Create exactly what we have been envisioning and working toward during an Earth experience that has tested and, at times, flattened us.

While there is still much work to be done for the Lightworkers, Gatekeepers, Galactics, Celestials, and the human Earth collective especially, I must reiterate that we have made it. The hardest of the work has been done and while we will all be tested as the New Year beckons us toward true and fluid-like change, our experiences and roles from here on out are to be more enjoyable than we can currently imagine.

Wes Annac – Receiving assistance and passing it on.

WesAnnac.com

AquariusChannelings.com

"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: IS THE NEW AGE REALLY COMING?
1/2/2013 9:53:14 PM

Saul: There is an Incredibly Bright Future Ahead of You

2013 JANUARY 2
Posted by Anthony Morrison

SaulSaul: There is an Incredibly Bright Future Ahead of You

Anthony: John apologises that there is no audio message this week as his voice has failed, temporarily.

As channelled by John Smallman – January 2, 2013

http://wp.me/pwoMa-mj

The moment for feeling disappointed is over. You have moved into the New Age and its benefits will become increasingly apparent as the year progresses. You have all done an amazing job in bringing it in, and you are greatly honored for that.

The divine energy field enveloping the planet and all the life forms she supports is now much more intense and effective than ever before in your human history because your New Age allows it to be so. The more aware and awake you become the greater the energy you can carry and use for the greater good of all.

Humanity is most definitely moving forwards spiritually after eons of stagnation and hopelessness that the constant conflicts and disagreements among you encouraged. When you are in conflict you are coming from ego, from a sense of isolation, abandonment, and fear, and your ego wants to put that to rights by fighting the enemy, whoever or whatever it may be, and destroying it.

Millions of egos fighting for supremacy do not provide an environment in which love, compassion, acceptance, respect, or healing of one another can grow and flourish.

With humanity’s rapidly increasing desire for all on the planet to live in harmony, even if only to avoid further destructive wars, the way to enormous spiritual growth has opened up because a desire to live harmoniously with others allows love’s influence to expand and become a major aspect of all human relationships.

This growth in the influence and power of love in every individual who desires it has become self-sustaining, and consequently you will see enormous changes occurring all across the world as the New Age becomes ever more firmly established in the hearts of those who would choose peace instead of conflict.

The New Age is an aspect of yourselves, of each individual, that shows itself as love, respect, and compassion for all with whom you interact, and it leads unerringly to peaceful and harmonious exchanges of ideas that will bring an end to the suffering and deprivation that has been endemic on Earth for eons. And as a result trust among you will grow, be honored, and become the norm, just as it should.

You are still seeing many conflicts across the planet, but the new energies with which you are all engaging will assist those involved in them to start negotiations that will successfully bring them to an end. Then there will indeed be great need for many of you to take part in the rebuilding of what so many wars have destroyed by repairing the infrastructures on which modern civilizations depend – healthcare, education, clean environments, and abundant supplies of clean water – and respect for all of humanity’s treasure trove of different cultures which make you what you are: ONE.

You cannot live divided, judging others as worse than or better than. You tried it for eons and it most definitely did not work. Now, with the New Age firmly established, along with all the amazing energies it has brought, you can develop societies that creatively work together for the good of all on your beautiful planet. A one-size-fits-all approach is not the way forwards.

Your new abilities to communicate very rapidly with anyone anywhere in the world have demonstrated to you very powerfully that cooperation works and can bring diverse groups together to solve issues that could not be solved alone – open-source computer applications is a wonderful example of this kind of cooperation in action – and that sort of enthusiastic and friendly cooperation is set to increase. There is an incredibly bright future ahead of you, just waiting for you to grasp it and run with it for the satisfaction and delight of all of humanity.

Now is the time to release any sense of anger, disappointment, or resentment that you may have experienced since the New Age arrived, and to engage with it completely by opening yourselves fully in love to all your brothers and sisters, especially those whom you believe have offended you or taken advantage of you.

True forgiveness occurs when it is offered instead of blame or judgment, whatever the situation. No one can honestly say that they have never caused offense to another (justification for doing so has no place here!), but holding on to the resentment it causes and dwelling on it is like filling yourselves with corrosive liquids that will destroy you. Forgive, thrive, and truly enjoy the gift of life so lovingly bestowed on you by your Father as you move fully and joyously into this New Age for which you have been yearning.

With so very much love, Saul.


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: IS THE NEW AGE REALLY COMING?
1/2/2013 9:56:56 PM

Sheldan Nidle: Update for the Galactic Federation of Light and Spiritual Hierarchy – January 1, 2013

2013 JANUARY 2
Posted by Anthony Morrison

sheldan newSheldan Nidle: Update for the Galactic Federation of Light and Spiritual Hierarchy – January 1, 2013

As received by Sheldan Nidle – January 1, 2012

www.paoweb.com

A divine time schedule exists, and you as a people are very shortly to become not only capable of welcoming your many families to this world but also, joyously, to become one of them!

Dratzo! Taj Jai Dan! (Happy New Dawn!) We return! A new epoch is dawning for humanity! Let us start with a brief description of what has happened so far. Our sacred secret allies, with the assistance of your Ascended Masters, have put into position a new financial system and begun to instruct various key individuals in the distribution of the hard-backed currencies associated with this new banking system.

Meanwhile, those who are to take up positions to replace old-order officials in the present de facto regimes are preparing the announcements which will transform your world ‘in the twinkling of an eye.’ Further, the Light-oriented military and militia groups are poised to complete a legal putsch that will put a series of new, de jure governments into power.

Once done, the announcements will be broadcast and the six major components of NESARA will become the law of the land. Initially these acts will: restore the Constitution; ensure the establishment of common law; and institute the use of a set of new hard-backed currencies worldwide. These will be the monies activating the new banking system and establishing global prosperity.

Banks will be rechartered and corporations dissolved and replaced with socially responsible partnerships. Large banks and corporations are to be broken up. New documents detailing the legal requirement for full transparency between these various institutions and the public will be stressed. The people will be asked to inform themselves and become a vital part of this process.

These new partnerships will be adjured to recognize the need to help Gaia and work toward redressing the many problems created by decades of global carelessness. These bodies will be publicly regulated and must interact with their now-prosperous communities to bring an end to industrial pollution and energetically promote the age of clean energy, which uses zero-point and light-beam technologies.

We intend to assist you by giving you technology which takes your interactive capabilities to a new level and which permits your communities to move away from corporate agriculture and any other ‘traditional’ industries that can harm Gaia and her diverse and fragile ecosystems.

Your first priority is to enrich your community life and demonstrate your Love for your home world. We of the Galactic Federation acknowledge both the Spirit and the material aspects of our living land. Each aspect, whether ocean, sky, or landmass, is most precious to us. Your fully conscious ancestors exercised this Love every day and even the so-called primitives of your world hold her essences sacred. This viewpoint is to become yours.

Your sciences have only just begun to grasp the truth of this central tenet of creation, and even ecology and related biological sciences barely acknowledge such a basic outlook. As you grow in consciousness you start to sense the Life contained in everything around you. You are to become a community of Earth stewards to your beautiful home world, a community that cherishes your living world and is grateful for all that she provides for you. You begin to perceive the great beauty all around you and to comprehend the key role that you play in sustaining this glorious creation. You begin to truly understand that all life is sacred and inextricably interdependent.

This unity is the great predicating factor in the Creator’s manifested physicality. This sacred design is seen interlaced throughout all Creation. Wherever we go, we see this constitutional unity demonstrated. It is seen in the way the solar system operates; in the way each part of life is dependent on another. It is seen in the way Heaven so graciously interacts with physicality.

Everywhere, this all-enveloping rhythm can be observed. It is a source of unending joy to us and we know you deeply sense the truth of what we say. You are increasingly discovering that many of the sacred truths contained in your philosophies need to be recognized. You are also beginning to see that dogma is used to shield other truths from your awareness. You are searching for what is real and for what resonates deep within you.

This search involves a growing cognizance of the quintessence that ‘makes it all tick,’ and above all, you know that something very new is required. This is why we have come, knowing that you need answers to these queries. Our role is to provide them, by using our abilities to move you, with Heaven’s assistance, into full consciousness.

Namaste! We are your Ascended Masters! We come now to act as sacred mentors to all humanity. We come to manifest, in sacred time, a new reality filled with many wonders. Long ago, each of us began a grand quest to fully realize our potential and, with the immense blessing of the Creator, to rediscover our path to full consciousness.

This journey was long and arduous and filled with generations of misdirection; then finally, a grand moment of utter glory! In discovering who we are, we learn about what has been taken from us. Then we began a mission to bring humanity swiftly to the wonders that took us so many lifetimes to reach. We asked Heaven to find a way for this to happen, and discovered that such a plan already existed! What is presently happening all over your realm is the start of something truly exceptional: you are meeting your many families, and they are to guide your shortly to your own mass enlightenment.

Full consciousness is a monumental blessing! It enables you to experience and express every sacred emotion, and to explore fully every action in physicality. This is a huge responsibility and is not to be taken lightly, as it can overwhelm your physical Soul if you are not properly prepared for it. This is why this metamorphosis requires a qualified mentor as well as specific technologies.

Heaven knows this, and has sent us those who possess these most magnificent qualities. We graciously bless this opportunity to realize these wonderful goals for humanity. The time draws near, and now you have just passed a most pivotal test! The rest is simply timing. A divine time schedule exists, and you as a people are very shortly to become not only capable of welcoming your many families to this world but also, joyously, to become one of them!

These great blessings from Heaven are just the beginning of something wonderful! We are honored to be designated to guide you through these wonderlands and intend to start our formal mentoring once your unlawful governance is replaced. In the new, more spiritual environment, disclosure can take place and we can appear before you. You will be reintroduced to many sacred truths as they form part of your divine path to enlightenment.

Ascension, or ‘donning the cape of full consciousness,’ requires carefully choreographed instruction. You will learn to become the dance that is the magnificent realms of Creation. This is something we are familiar with and can easily teach you. Once you begin, you will quickly acquire a certain level of proficiency, which you can then build upon as you watch your world shift, your consciousness expand, and your interaction with the divine realms dramatically increase!

Today, we continued our discussion about what is happening around your world. Each day brings you closer to your divine destiny. You are shortly to meet your space and Inner Earth families and be returned to full consciousness! Know, dear Ones, that the countless Supply and never-ending Prosperity of Heaven are indeed Yours!

So Be It! Selamat Gajun! Selamat Ja! (Sirian for Be One! and Be in Joy!)


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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Luis Miguel Goitizolo

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RE: IS THE NEW AGE REALLY COMING?
1/2/2013 9:58:50 PM

Jesus: Jesus Responds to John

2013 JANUARY 2
Posted by Stephen Cook

jesus-4-258x3001-150x150Jesus: Jesus Responds to John

Message from John: I have used a different format for today’s message, because it is a conversation between us (over different days). Also, there is no audio version because my voice has failed, temporarily.

As channelled by John Smallman – January 02, 2013

http://wp.me/p1B8dY-ae

Friday December 28, 2012

John: Good afternoon, dear Jesus. Well, as you must be very well aware, there is a great sense of disappointment, not to mention anger, because nothing of note seems to have happened that could be described as the start of a New Age or an awakening into full consciousness. I, too was disappointed – there were, we understood, to be NO disappointments. So, where do we go from here?

Are we all just accessing a collective illusory consciousness dreamed up by wishful-thinkers who are very disillusioned with life on Earth and hoping for something better, or what? Please offer something to inspire and uplift me/us, if that can be done from the spiritual realms after the let-down that we have experienced. I am sure that many feel betrayed – their hopes were very high, and then they were dashed.

What happens now? Back to the familiar grind, focus on the illusion and all its sufferings? Anyhow, I have said more than enough, so please dictate, and help me to relax and allow your words to flow into my mind.

Jesus: Well John, you have spelt it out pretty clearly, so allow me to respond.

There was an enormous energy shift between 12/12/12 and 12/21/12. It had been building towards this period of intense activity for many years, and it happened precisely as planned and on schedule.

Many were aware of the energy shift even if they were disappointed by the lack of evidence on the physical plane. Everyone on Earth has been momentously affected by it, but because your physical bodies are quite delicate, it is being activated within each one of you at differing speeds to align with your personal coping abilities.

Great changes are occurring all across the world, and will shortly become apparent.

Your duty, your task as Lightholders and wayshowers is to continue doing just that. Allow plenty of time daily for meditation, and ask and intend to get a real sense of that Light so that your faith is re-established and fortified. Humanity will awaken because it intends to do so, and that ensures its inevitability. You chose to be on Earth in the vanguard of the awakening process knowing full well what was involved.

Despite your lack of a complete memory of the commitment that you made, you do have an awareness, a sense of responsibility that you are here on Earth with a very important role to play in this amazing process.

Ask for help, assurance, and guidance when you meditate, and you will receive it. To meditate is even more essential now as the new energies unfold within you because it will enable you to gain uplifting glimpses of what lies ahead for humanity and for the beautiful planet that supports your physical existence. It is illusory, but you have chosen to experience it as very real, and as long as you choose to continue doing so she will be there to support you in the story you have collectively assembled.

(pause 16.35)

Tuesday January 1, 2013

John: Well, dear Jesus, that is all very well, but we still feel very let down, in fact dishonored by the fact that we are still entangled in our crushing 3D environment with no end in sight. It seems that what we were promised was illusory, and that what we continue to experience is far more real with all its attendant pain, suffering, and anxiety.

I have always believed that life would improve immeasurably, wonderfully after I laid down my physical body in human death – the many stories of people’s near death experiences are very convincing and uplifting on that subject.

However, from what you and Saul have been telling me over the years, I had come to believe that a New Age of peace, joy, and abundance on Earth for all was to come into being very soon. A kind of step up from the horrors of the illusion into a loving environment that would lead us inevitably Home into the eternal peace and Presence of our Father. It now seems that that is not the case.

So have we – I and all those who channel beings from the spiritual realms, or those who read what has been channeled and shared – just been fooling ourselves?

I do not believe that those in the spiritual realms would intentionally mislead us, I believe they love us and sincerely want to help us, but maybe there is just no way that our vastly differing realms can meet and interact.

Are we in fact going to have to wait until we lay down our physical bodies before we can experience the intense and permanent joy that various saints and mystics have told us is God’s Will for us?To have to wait until we lay down our bodies in physical death is a very unappealing thought as the numbers of humans living in unconscionable poverty continue to grow, and about which it seems very little can be done despite the well meaning intentions and actions of many concerned individuals and charities.

The future looks very grim for many who had hoped to awaken into that New Age. Our human history is full of stories of expected improvements to our living conditions that never materialized, it seems that this hoped-for New Age was just another of those stories.

(pause 12.55 > 13.55)

Jesus: Well, John, you are certainly feeling down. Our intent has always been to uplift and inspire you, and in that we have succeeded.Your disappointment is quite understandable because we had raised your hopes and expectations very high and then you experienced no wonders, no fulfillment of those high expectations.

Nevertheless, your spiritual energies have been strengthened enormously and these will carry you forwards as the New Age, which you have most definitely entered, develops, intensifies and enfolds all in its loving embrace.

Humanity is awakening. To be awake is to be aware, and a great awareness of the need to treat one another with love, compassion, respect, and acceptance has emerged on Earth over the last five or six decades. There are still many on Earth who do not honor this basic human right, but that is changing very rapidly because of the intensity of the divine field of Love enveloping the world.

Remember, Love is gentle . . . but It is also extremely powerful and will not be denied. Humanity has for a very long time hidden from Love, refusing to engage with It. That has now changed and It is sweeping in everywhere, affecting all relationships, and as you have been told before, “Love changes everything.”

Continue to be loving in every situation; do not attack or build defenses because that blinds you to the Love that has enveloped you. Love is the way of God, the way of Heaven, the way of all in the spiritual realms, and therefore It is your way. You must trust It and persist with It, and then you will clearly see your way Home. You know in your hearts that nothing else makes any sense, and you can see that wherever Love is dismissed conflict ensues – always.

Although you have no immediate sense of the New Age that you have become a part of, it has arrived, and you will begin to experience its benefits.

Pray and meditate with strong intent and allow the Love that enfolds you to sweep away anything that is not in alignment with It.

That is what you truly desire, and you are bringing it into being.

Your loving brother, Jesus.

(ended 01-01-2012 14.50.)


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RE: IS THE NEW AGE REALLY COMING?
1/2/2013 10:02:19 PM

India to Hand Money Directly to Poor in New Welfare System

2013 JANUARY 2
Posted by Stephen Cook
Impoverished and homeless people stand in a queue to receive free food from a volunteer organization in front of a temple, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

Impoverished and homeless people stand in a queue to receive free food from a volunteer organization in front of a temple, in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Jan. 1, 2013. (AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

India to Hand Money Directly to Poor in New Welfare System

Stephen: I’m personally flummoxed as to why any country would have ‘a middle man’ involved in any welfare distribution program! Yet, although fingerprinting and the collection of biometric data is involved, at least India is attempting to rid its welfare system of what we call ‘fat cat’ fraud. And this ‘new’ program has already had wonderful results in Brazil. Thanks to Sandy.

By Associated Press – Fox News – January 1, 2012

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2013/01/01/india-to-hand-money-directly-to-poor-in-new-welfare-system/?test=latestnews

NEW DELHI – India will pay billions of dollars in social welfare money directly to its poor under a new program that aims to cut out the middlemen blamed for the massive fraud that plagues the system.

Previously officials only handed out cash to the poor after taking a cut — if they didn’t keep all of it for themselves — and were known to enroll fake recipients or register unqualified people. The program inaugurated Tuesday would see welfare money directly deposited into recipients’ bank accounts and require them to prove their identity with biometric data, such as fingerprints or retina scans.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram has described the venture as “nothing less than magical,” but critics accuse the government of hastily pushing through a complex program in a country where millions don’t have access to electricity or paved roads, let alone neighborhood banks.

The program is loosely based on Brazil’s widely praised Bolsa Familia program, which has helped lift more than 19 million people out of poverty since 2003. It will begin in 20 of the country’s 640 districts Tuesday, affecting more than 200,000 recipients, and will be progressively rolled out in other areas in the coming months, Chidambaram said Monday. The country has 440 million people living below the poverty line.

“In a huge new experiment like this you should expect some glitches. There may be a problem here and there, but these will be overcome by our people,” Chidambaram said.

He appealed for patience with the program, which he called `’a game changer for governance.”

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has accused the ruling Congress party of using the program to gain political mileage ahead of elections expected in 2014.

As a first step, the government has said it plans to begin directly transferring money it would spend on programs such as scholarships and pensions.

Eventually the transfers are expected to help fix much of the rest of India’s welfare spending, though Chidambaram said the government’s massive food, kerosene and fertilizer distribution networks — which are blamed for much of the corruption and lost money — would be exempt.

The program will eliminate middlemen and transfer cash directly into bank accounts using data from Aadhar, a government project working to give every Indian identification numbers linked to fingerprints and retina scans. Currently hundreds of millions of Indians have no identity documents.

On Monday, 208 activists and scholars published an open letter expressing concern that the government was forcing the poor to enroll in Aadhar to get welfare benefits without putting safeguards in place to protect their privacy. They also expressed fears the government planned to eventually replace the food distribution system for the poor, the largest program of its kind in the world.

`’Essential services are not a suitable field of experimentation for a highly centralized and uncertain technology,” they wrote.

Others said the government was trying to do too much too soon.

“A very important concern is are we ready for this sort of thing? The banking infrastructure is very poor, people are far from these banks, when they exist they are overcrowded. Sometimes people have to walk for a day to get to the bank,” says Reetika Khera, a development economist with the New Delhi-based Institute for Economic Growth.

Mihir Shah, a member of India’s Planning Commission accepts that the government’s timeline is “unrealistic,” but said many critics had confused the lack of readiness with flaws in the plan itself.

“My question to them is is it better than what is there today? That is the only way we can judge policy. I don’t think there’s a perfect solution to any of mankind’s problems,” he said.

Shah said a lot more work needed to be done before cash transfers could become a reality across the country. The identification drive needed to reach the vast majority of India’s poor, and villages needed banking infrastructure and Internet connectivity.

“It is going to take time and it will happen only when it happens whatever the deadline. It will be rolled out only when these conditions are in place,” he said. But if the deadline “pushes us to fix the lacunae that currently hamper the roll out of cash transfer, then we’re in the right direction.”


"Choose a job you love and you will not have to work a day in your life" (Confucius)

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