-The Hindu The Aadhaar Bill opens the door to mass surveillance. This danger needs to be seen in the light of recent attacks on the right to dissent. No other country, and certainly no democratic country, has ever held its own citizens hostage to such a powerful infrastructure of surveillance. The Aadhaar project was sold to the public based on the claim that enrolment was “voluntary”. This basically meant that there was...

-The Hindu Campaign is part of government’s endeavour to reduce LPG subsidy bill More than 80 lakh households have given up LPG subsidy under the ‘Give it Up’ scheme, as of March 3, 2016, Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said.The ‘Give it Up’ campaign is part of the government’s endeavour to reduce its LPG subsidy bill. Under the scheme, LPG users who can afford to pay the market rate for the fuel are encouraged...

-Business Standard Conventional subsidy bill of Rs 2.44 lakh crore, or 1.7 per cent of GDP, in 2015-16 If lower tax rate is equivalent to subsidising, the National Democratic Alliance government is clearly targeting the 'well-off' segment of the population. Unlike the previous years, the Economic Survey 2015-16 has dealt with the issue of subsidy by giving only a box on petroleum subsidies, while devoting a chapter with nine-and-a-half pages to 'Bounties...

-The Hindu “Commodities that are primarily consumed by the rich have a low tax rate” India’s rich feed off subsidies worth over Rs. 1 lakh crore a year that are meant for the poor, according to the Economic Survey. And this figure only considers the subsidies on six commodities, two public utilities — the Railways and electricity — and one small savings scheme, the Public Provident Fund. “There are a fair amount of...

-FirstPost.com Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, in vogue for some time in India now, have surfaced with renewed fervour over the last year and a half. DBT, as the term suggests, is a strategy aimed to electronically transfer price subsidies and benefits provided under various welfare schemes as cash directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries. The Economic Survey 2014-15 made a strong case for replacing various price subsidies and in-kind transfers...