-PTI Union Minister Jairam Ramesh has said 'Aadhaar' numbers, the unique 12-digit identification numbers given to residents of India, would be used to provide different social pensions, MGNREGA wages to workers and scholarships to students. "The Aadhaar-enabled applications would be utilised immediately in some selected 50 districts of the country, where the enrolment covered over 70%," the Rural Development Minister told reporters here last night. Over 20 crore people in the country were...

-The Hindu Technical glitches in the unique identification method make it unreliable in disbursing wages under the employment guarantee scheme   Within a few weeks of “Aadhaar-enabled” payments of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme wages being initiated in Jharkhand, earlier this year, glowing accounts of this experiment started appearing in the national media. Some of them also gave the impression, intentionally or otherwise, that this successful experiment covered most of Jharkhand....

-The Hindustan Times There is a widespread perception of policy paralysis in the corridors of power. The two remaining years of the UPA's term is still not too short to reverse the current drift, but time is rapidly running out. The damaged economy needs urgent fixing as does restoring the credibility of an executive racked by scandals and the absence of a sense of direction. The people of the country long...

-The Times of India UPA's flagship rural guarantee scheme is performing fitfully in terms of work days, wages and coverage, amply confirming rural development minister Jairam Ramesh's fears that the programme has become a scheme for digging ditches. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee, UPA's outreach to the poor, is not meeting critical parameters and is crying out for reform with questions about the utility a Rs 36,000-crore a year budget...

-The Times of India DALTONGANJ: Almost 725 incomplete wells being constructed under the MGNREGA scheme in Palamu will now wait for the winter to restart the work. These wells were dug up to five feet depth or even less than that. Now with the rain around, the Palamu administration has put an embargo on any further digging up as the rainwater force the wells to collapse. Palamu DC Pooja Singhal has confirmed...