-The Hindu Business Line The government must universalise social security pensions for the elderly, single women and persons with disabilities and also operationalise the maternity entitlement scheme at the earliest, says Reetika Khera, Associate Professor of Economics at IIT-Delhi. In an interview to BusinessLine, Khera argued against the use of Aadhaar for authentication of beneficiaries and said it has “no role in plugging leakages or in the identification of correct beneficiaries”....

-The Indian Express Linking it to ration cards ends up denying poor their rightful entitlements In September 2017, 11-year-old Santoshi, resident of Simdega district of Jharkhand, succumbed to starvation. According to her mother, she died “asking for rice, but there was not a single grain at home”. She was deprived of her subsidised ration as her family’s ration card was cancelled because it was not linked to Aadhaar. Marandi in Jharkhand met...

-NDTV The Supreme Court court made the comments while hearing a case related not to Aadhaar, but to night-shelters for homeless people across the country in the deepening winter chill New Delhi: To the questions swirling around the Aadhaar or national identity cards, the Supreme Court today added a new one -- if a homeless person doesn't have it, will he not exist for the government? The court made the comments while...

-The Economic Times blog Electoral bonds represent the latest attempt at removing black money from the electoral system. It is a financial instrument, much like a demand draft or currency note, which will conceal the identity of the donor from the intended recipient political party from everyone except the issuing bank. These bonds can be purchased for any value, in multiples of Rs 1,000, Rs 10,000, Rs 1,00,000, Rs 10,00,000 and Rs...

-The Indian Express Over-inclusive, says Chidambaram, it keeps out even those convicted of non-financial crime As Rajya Sabha cleared the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code Amendment Bill Tuesday, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government has entered unchartered territory and would continue to modify the law. “Insolvency and bankruptcy is an area in which it is only in recent years that we have chartered into. It is a learning experience,” Jaitley said in...