-The Business Standard FM allocates Rs 10,000 cr to implement the programme; this is apart from the usual food subsidy requirement of Rs 80,000 cr for the year The most ambitious social security programme of the government, the National Food Security Bill, got a leg-up in the 2013-14 Budget, with Finance Minister P Chidambaram allocating Rs 10,000 crore for implementing it. This allocation is over and above the usual food subsidy requirement of...

-Live Mint Concerns raised over the efficiency of banking networks and on-the-ground preparations for the scheme A section of the Sonia Gandhi -led National Advisory Council (NAC) is not happy with the government “rushing into” the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, expected to be the flagship programme of the ruling Congress party in the national election scheduled for next year. At a meeting of the NAC on Tuesday, where Unique Identification Authority of...

-PTI Lalitpur (UP): Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh on Monday alleged massive irregularities in the implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employee Guarantee Scheme in seven districts of Uttar Pradesh and demanded a CBI probe into it. The Union Minister claimed that neither the previous Mayawati regime nor the present Akhilesh Yadav Government has recommended CBI probe into MNREGS irregularities in spite of his repeated appeals. “There had been massive...

-The Economic Times The Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme commenced with the initial rollout in 20 districts covering seven scholarship schemes. Another 23 districts will be covered by March this year. The intention is to link all government benefits to Aadhaar-based identification of beneficiaries and to channelise the cash benefits through Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts. Irrespective of the merits of translating some benefits delivered in kind like in PDS into their cash-equivalent, for...

-Live Mint In an interview, India’s food minister says the Bill is about making the Right to Food a legal entitlement Prospects for the National Food Security (NFS) Bill—United Progressive Alliance (UPA) chairperson Sonia Gandhi’s dream legislation—haven’t looked better. Food minister K.V. Thomas, in charge of fine-tuning the contours of the Bill, is confident of steering it through Parliament during the budget session. In an interview, Thomas said the Bill isn’t merely...