-Scroll.in By March 2017, Aadhaar will be mandatory for food benefits even as fingerprint authentication problems persist, and rules on grievance redress are missing The National Democratic Alliance government has asked the states and Central ministries to link the details of all beneficiaries of its social welfare schemes with Aadhaar, a biometric-based unique identity number, by March 2017. On September 14, the Unique Identity Authority of India – the agency that manages the...

-The Indian Express The Centre is pushing and many states are implementing Direct Benefit Transfers – and encountering little political opposition The entire focus on ushering in a direct benefit transfer (DBT) regime for delivering subsidies to the targeted populations has so far centered around cooking gas, and to some extent, on isolated pilot experiments with food subsidy. Agriculture subsidies, especially on inputs other than fertilisers, have largely escaped attention in...

-The Hindu Business Line Hyderabad: Millet Network of India (MINI), an umbrella organisation of activists, scientists and non-governmental organisations, has demanded the Union government implement the National Food Security 2013 and include millets in public distribution system (PDS). MINI Convener PV Satheesh has said that the network has launched a national CAMPAign this week to bring pressure on the government to achieve their demands. “The month-long CAMPAign would highlight the importance of bringing...

-Livemint.com Radha Mohan Singh says the monsoon this year has been well distributed with 5.3 million hectare more area planted that could see a record production of foodgrains New Delhi: After two years of drought and declining crop production, a record foodgrain production on the back of a well distributed monsoon is expected in 2016-17, agriculture minister Radha Mohan Singh said on Thursday. While pulses production could touch 22 million tonnes, up...

-PTI Supreme Court today directed the Centre to do away with sterilisation camps within three years and strengthen the primary healthcare centre system, saying "it is time that women and men are treated with respect and dignity and not as mere statistics in the sterilisation programme". The verdict was delivered when the court was dealing with a PIL which had brought to light the mismanagement of sterilisation camps which had led to the...