-Scroll.in Public Distribution System dealers have strict instructions not to distribute rations without Aadhaar-linked authentication. Kairi Tidu, aged 10 years or so, was wearing her school uniform at a recent public hearing on the Public Distribution System in Khunti, jharkhand, because she had nothing better to wear for the occasion. She explained how her family had been deprived of Public Distribution System rice during the last few months. Her parents have migrated...

-The Indian Express Linking of Aadhaar to a growing number of government entitlements is misguided LAST week the Union food ministry issued an unprecedented diktat. It has insisted that each family member must possess an Aadhaar number within four months, to be eligible for subsidised foodgrains under the National Food Security Act. This ties in with the larger plan for all ration shops by 2019 to verify Aadhaar biometrics at every...

-Down to Earth Finance Ministry has said that such parity is not possible as it would involve an additional burden of around Rs 10,000 crore on the exchequer The Union Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) puts on hold the consideration of bringing parity of MGNREGS wage with minimum wages of states as its proposal has not got an in-principle approval from the Finance Ministry. According to the MoRD, the finance ministry has...

-Scroll.in The Paharia Adivasi community says they are cheated in their banking transactions and don't know what to do with the debit cards. Just days after the Central government’s demonetisation announcement on November 8 kicked off a major push for digital payments, Kusheshwar Paharia, a resident of Nathgoda village in jharkhand’s Godda district, received a thick packet in the mail. It contained a letter from the State Bank of India, with which he...

-NDTV The "highest ever allocation" to NREGA (which also led to it trending on Twitter)  in the Union Budget has provided a useful opportunity to raise some pressing issues related to the implementation of the scheme. It is natural, and welcome, that the government turn to NREGA to provide much-needed relief to those whose already precarious lives have been disrupted by demonetization, a man-made economic disaster. Widespread reports of job losses...