-Hindustan Times Toronto: A culture of intolerance has taken root in India and grown “more menacing” since Narendra Modi became Prime Minister two years ago, according to a new report prepared jointly by a Canadian university and global writers group PEN International. India must overhaul its antiquated laws and cumbersome legal system, which are increasingly being misused to silence dissent, said the report titled “Fearful Silence: The Chill on India’s Public Sphere”. It...

-Business Standard Fingerprint failure reports of existing Aadhaar-linked PDS cases not revealed The National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government has decided to complete the linking the bank accounts to Aadhaar numbers of all the beneficiaries of large social schemes, including the National Food Security Act, by March 2017. Once done, the delivery of these schemes would be based on biometric authentication linked to Aadhaar or direct cash transfers to linked bank accounts of...

-The Times of India RANCHI: Charo Oraon, 66 of Hurhuru village under Ratu block of Ranchi district has not been able to procure ration from the public distribution shop since June 2016-the reason-earlier he was not enrolled with the unique identification authority (Aadhar) and it was made mandatory by the state government to have Aadhar number for procuring ration. Off late he got his Aadhar registration by August but still is denied...

-The Indian Express Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police and those serving a sentence of imprisonment after conviction cannot vote. The Election Commission (EC) has set up a seven-member committee to explore the possibility of lifting the ban on voting for prisoners. Under Section 62(5) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, individuals in lawful custody of the police...

-The Telegraph Ranchi: The Aadhaar-enabled public distribution system (PDS) launched in Ranchi on pilot basis threw up a tragic loophole today when around 50 leprosy patients turned up at their ward councillor's office, saying they had not received ration for the past three months as they lacked thumbs and fingers to verify their biometric identity. The 50-odd leprosy patients, including women, told ward 43 councillor Chanda Devi their very survival was at...