-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Centre on Tuesday came to the Supreme Court along with several important organizations and made an impassioned plea for permitting voluntary use of Aadhaar cards held by 90 crore citizens to accurately identify beneficiaries for welfare schemes. They wanted modification of the SC's August 11 interim order limiting the use of Aadhaar card only for LPG subsidy and ration through public distribution system. A bench...
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Centre calls on vendors to discuss technicalities -Surabhi
-The Indian Express September 18 meeting will focus on cost, specification and security issues Moving ahead with its promise to provide smart cards to unorganised sector workers that would enable them to access social security benefits, the labour ministry has called for a meeting with smart card vendors and agencies next week. The meeting, called on September 18, will focus on finalisation of the technical aspects of such cards, including cost, specifications,...
More »Socio Economic Caste Census: Has It Ignored Too Many Poor Households? -NC Saxena
-Economic and Political Weekly A survey to identify who the poor are and how many are actually poor is necessary if programmes and benefits targeted at the needy are to reach them. The Socio Economic Caste Census, of which partial results have been published, was intended to do this. Yet, even a cursory look at the figures indicates that they call for a willing suspension of disbelief. N C Saxena (naresh.saxena@gmail.com) was...
More »Social Safety nets require more public funding
The nation can be proud of running some of the world's largest programmes on social safety nets, says the latest report by World Bank. However, public spending on safety nets is still low in comparison to neighbouring countries Bangladesh and Pakistan. India tops the list of 136 countries for running the world's largest school feeding programme i.e. the Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMS), and also the biggest public works programme i.e....
More »Atal Pension Yojana: Guaranteed, but low pension -Anand Kalyanaraman
-The Hindu Business Line The Atal Pension Yojana is intended as a safety net for workers in the informal sector The Atal Pension Yojana (APY), like the National Pension System (NPS), seeks to provide monthly pension to subscribers from the age of 60. While the APY is open to all citizens of India between 18-40 years, it is focussed on workers in the unorganised sector. Guaranteed pension The scheme has been tailored to make it...
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