-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The government on Wednesday said that close to Rs 21,000 crore was saved in two years by directly Transferring subsidy (DBT) to user bank accounts. The savings are largely from the elimination of fake/ghost/duplicate/inactive domestic LPG connections. Over 3.34 crore of these connections were done away with after the implementation of DBT. According to government calculations, 3.34 crore blocked consumers would have used up Rs 14,818.4...

-The Hindu The audit has also found substantial systemic problems with the Direct Benefit Transfer in LPG scheme, called Pahal by the government. The Centre claims it would end up saving almost Rs. 22,000 crore in the financial years of 2014-15 and 2015-16 since launching its two-pronged approach on cooking gas subsidy — introducing direct bank Transfers of the subsidy and asking better off consumers to voluntarily give up theirs. However, a CAG...

-Hindustan Times Babus will need to be careful what they say, or draw, on social media. The Centre on Tuesday proposed changes to the rulebook to explicitly treat criticism of government policies on social media as a violation of conduct rules. And the threat of disciplinary action for criticising the government is not limited to the written word. It includes caricatures that are uncharitable to the government too. On the other hand, the new...

-Business Standard This policy involves providing products and services such as electricity and fertilisers at below-market prices New Delhi: While much of public discourse in India has tended to focus on expanding the current subsidy regime to help the poor, Vijay Joshi, economist at Oxford University, advocates shifting to a universal basic income, replacing all government subsidies with a single cash Transfer to all citizens, providing them with a basic income guarantee. At...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Leave of up to 90 days granted to women central government employees who have filed complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace could be in addition to leave they are otherwise entitled to, a circular issued yesterday suggests. Under Section 12, 1(D), of the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, a woman employee has the option of taking leave up to 90...