-Livemint.com The move to introduce a law to bring statutory backing for Aadhaar will clear decks for Jan Dhan Yojana, Aadhaar and Mobile number aimed at expanding access to financial services New Delhi: Statutory backing for the Aadhaar unique identification scheme will be introduced during the financial year 2016-17, finance minister Arun Jaitley said on Monday in his budget speech. The bill will be introduced in the current budget session. The government’s...

-Livemint.com The economist believes inequality in India is comparable with Brazil, South Africa but lack of transparency over direct tax statistics in India hinders his study here New Delhi: Economist Thomas Piketty believes inequality in India is comparable with that in Brazil and South Africa. Like the two other emerging economies, where the richest 10% of the population has a 60-65% share of total wealth, a similar scenario probably exists in...

-The Hindu The public now sees the Internet not just in market terms, but as a social phenomenon that requires public interest regulation. In its aggressive campaign for Free Basics, couched in simplistic developmental language, Facebook underestimated the political sophistication of the Indian public. It must be regretting it now. The social networking service’s reportedly Rs. 100-crore campaign, through double full-page newspaper advertisements, billboards and television, appears simply to have congealed public...

-The Hindu New Delhi travelled to tribal heartland. The expert group offers hope; an opportunity to ensure that the tribals have a say in policies that are framed for them. Earlier this month, a motley group of 50 academicians, government officials and activists gathered at Shodhgram village in Maharashtra’s Gadchiroli district. This is an area known for malaria, malnutrition and Maoists, not necessarily in that order. Everyone left technology behind (mobile phones and...

-Business Standard Says the actual poverty is much higher than suggested by the multilateral lender, adding there is lack of scientific basis in computing the poverty line The government has contested the World Bank's recently released data that showed only 12.4 per cent of India's population was poor in 2011-12, considering an expenditure cut-off of $1.9 a person a day on purchasing power parity (PPP) terms. It said the actual poverty was...