-The Times of India How much you can splurge on the buffet, trousseau and finery at a family wedding may depend on how much you earn. A high-powered government panel has recommended income-linked cap on marriage expenditure, including gifts and food served.  The recommendation by the Planning Commission's Working Group on Women's Agency and Empowerment is part of the effort to tighten the provisions of Dowry Prohibition Act, 28 years after its...

As minister for rural development, Jairam Ramesh oversees the largest spending in the social sector by the government. This includes the marquee Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) that was pioneered by the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance in 2006. The minister, an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is known for his forthrightness. In a typically candid interview to Mint on...

-ANI Senior leader of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), Sushma Swaraj, said availing loan in India is not easy for the poor people. While addressing a function organised by the Swadeshi Jagran Manch, an economic wing of Hindu Radical Outfit, Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, in New Delhi on Sunday. Swaraj said even the Central Government's scheme is unable to provide loan to the poor. "Taking loan is not easy in this country, people loose patience...

Home ministry accepts UIDAI’s biometrics; in case of overlap, National Population Register will prevail The Aadhaar project, which has been in the eye of a storm for its dispute with the home ministry’s National Population Register (NPR), received a shot in the arm on Friday, with the Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) extending its mandate to collect biometrics for a total of 600 million residents of the...

Further work likely to be done by an agency to be designated by Centre The curtains will come down on enrolments for Aadhaar, the Central government's ambitious unique identification programme, by February 15 at all 2,245 enrolment centres across Karnataka. A letter sent to Deputy Commissioners, in 23 districts where Aadhaar is being rolled out, by the State department of e-governance, informs them of the decision to stop enrolments, adding that “further...