-Outlook Malkangiri (Odisha): Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik today launched the Re 1 a kg rice scheme for the poor in Odisha from the backward and tribal-dominated Malkangiri district. Patnaik, who distributed cheap rice to members of the Bonda tribe, had announced the scheme on Republic Day. It would provide rice at Re 1 per kg to people living below Poverty Line (BPL) as well as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, disabled and beneficiaries of...

-The Hindu MGNREGA records manipulated; workers’ wages siphoned off from accounts Rankikalan (Jharkhand): At noon on Tuesday last, a dozen men gathered on the banks of the Auranga near Rankikalan village in Latehar district. As they performed the dashmirites, the wailing from the huts in the village continued. Bhuiatoli village had lost 23 men, women and children when the truck in which they were returning to the village after working on landlords’...

-The Hindu Hailed as path-breaking, the scheme completes seven years on February 2. Six districts were chosen as part of the first phase in 2006. As in other parts of the country, the scheme has thrown up several issues such as livelihood security and gender empowerment. Starting today, we will be carrying a series of field reports. VILLUPURAM: Divergence of views prevails over the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment...

-The Hoot The media welcomed the UID's promise of giving an identity to those outside the system, but has failed to track its failure to do so. On January 1, the Indian government announced roll out of its ambitious cash transfer scheme  in 20 districts of the country based on unique identification (UID), also called Aadhaar. The media, while presenting the pros and cons of cash transfer, also mentioned that...

-Economic and Political Weekly A cost-benefi t analysis by the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy of the benefits from Aadhaar integration with seven schemes throws up huge benefi ts that are based almost entirely on unrealistic assumptions. Further, the report does not take into account alternative technologies that could achieve the same or similar savings, possibly at lower cost. Reetika Khera (reetika.khera@gmail.com) is at the Institute of Economic Growth on...