-The Indian Express Cash transfers seem to be the latest fad. With elections looming, the Prime Minister’s National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers has been tasked with an ambitious mandate to provide vision and direction to enable direct cash transfers of subsidies under various government schemes and programmes to individuals to enhance efficiency. Certain activists warn against an ill-considered and hasty transition from food to cash. Others believe directly transferring the...

-PTI Centre today announced a hike in allocation of grants for construction of houses for BPL families under the Indira Awas Yojana from Rs 45,000 to Rs 75,000 per dwelling unit. For hilly and Naxal affected areas, the grants for constructing houses under the scheme will go up from Rs 48,500 crore to Rs 80000, Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh said here. "The outlay for IAY in 2012-2013 was Rs 11000 crore and...

-The Hindustan Times The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), which is probing irregularities in the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) scheme in Uttar Pradesh, is likely to register as many as 50 more cases. It will help the investigating agency track ‘beneficiaries’ who allegedly siphoned off funds from the office of chief medical officers (CMO) in 72 districts. The number of cases to be filed by the CBI will spiral as it will...

-Down to Earth Biometric-based unique identity or Aadhaar is leading to huge problems for people working for the rural employment guarantee scheme and for others receiving welfare benefits. Not only have enrolments been done shoddily but the experience of the pilot projects shows that it is almost impossible to authenticate the work-hardened fingerprints of the poor, find Latha Jishnu and Jyotika Sood. Besides, there is the overwhelming issue of deficient online...

In a move that could end a face-off within the government on the proposed food security Bill, the food ministry has decided to make everyone, except the so-called creamy layer, eligible for receiving state-subsidized foodgrains. Those who can afford to pay market prices will be kept out of the intended list of beneficiaries through the introduction of the exclusion criteria in the Bill, which will also seek to allocate foodgrains on...