A move to announce the viewer ratings of news channels once a month – rather than the current weekly announcement – has spurred opposition from advertisers as well as some channels. The media research agency which releases the ratings has refused to implement the change until it receives written consent from all stakeholders. The decision to shift from weekly to monthly ratings for all national news and business channels in Hindi...

Ankaji Bhai Gangar, a 49-year-old subsistence farmer, stood in line in this remote village until, for the first time in his life, he squinted into the soft glow of a computer screen. His name, year of birth and address were recorded. A worker guided Mr. Gangar’s rough fingers to the glowing green surface of a scanner to record his fingerprints. He peered into an iris scanner shaped like binoculars that...

-The Hindustan Times   The home ministry has raised concerns that a fresh proposal of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to independently collect biometric details could lead to duplication of effort and lead to wastage of public funds. The Cabinet had earlier mandated the census commissioner to create the national population register (NPR), a biometrics-based identity system. This required the census commissioner to create a data-base of all residents through door-to-door...

-Live Mint   A cabinet committee had allowed the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the nodal agency for the Aadhaar project, to collect biometric data until the National Population Register (NPR) rolls out, Union home minister P. Chidambaram said on Thursday. Chidambaram’s statement follows media reports that Aadhaar and NPR projects are duplicating each other’s work and wasting public money. “UID was authorized to collect the biometric details for a limited period until...

The Lokpal legislation, in whatever form, will not be the only law we have on corruption. Apart from statutes on prohibition of benami transactions and prevention of money laundering, there is the IPC (Indian Penal Code). Under Sections 169 and 409 of IPC, depending on the offence, public servants can face imprisonment (from two years to life) and fines. This wasn't enough of a deterrent and after Bofors, we had...