-Business Standard As on Dec 9, the Aadhaar Payment Bridge saw transactions crossing the 79.4 million mark across govt welfare programmes Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday said the number of Aadhaar numbers that have been linked to bank accounts had touched 100 million, enabling these individuals to digitally receive subsidies and benefits under government schemes. It said establishing a link between an Aadhaar number and a bank account makes it...

-Livemint The development economist on the Modi government's initiatives and his stand on them, and MGNREGS The Narendra Modi-led government should consider replacing inefficient subsidies with a basic monthly income for all citizens, says Pranab Bardhan , emeritus professor of economics at the University of California at Berkeley. Bardhan, who recently sparred with economists Jagdish Bhagwati and Arvind Panagariya in a debate over the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS),...

-The Indian Express In a move that could alter the labour-intensive nature of the rural job guarantee scheme, the Finance Ministry has suggested changing the wage-material ratio from the current 60:40 - as provided under the Act - to an equal 50:50. This comes amid widespread criticism from several quarters of previous Rural Development minister Nitin Gadkari's proposal to change the labour-material ratio to 51:49. According to officials in the Rural Development Ministry,...

-PTI A post card campaign will be launched from tommorrow by some city-based activists against the Centre's proposal to make changes in the MNREGA scheme which will affect the poor people. As per the plan, around 1,000 letters will be sent to the PMO everyday till May 1, asking the government not to bring any changes in the scheme. "The NDA government proposed a 15 per cent reduction in the budget allocation...

-The Hindu Targeting households rather than districts may be more effective, says NCAER official Would confining India's flagship rural jobs scheme to the 200 poorest districts direct the benefits to those who need it most? New data indicates that this is unlikely to be the case - little separates India's poorest districts from others, and both sets rely on the scheme. In early October, reports surfaced that the Union government was considering restricting...