The finance ministry has put its seal of approval on a proposal to directly transfer subsidies to the bank account of a beneficiary that is linked to her Aadhaar, or unique identification (UID) number. The government has previously articulated its desire to experiment with direct transfers to make its management of subsidies more efficient and ensure benefits actually reach the targeted people. In a notification issued on Tuesday, the finance ministry extended...
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Pranab note links Chidambaram to 2G price decision
-The Hindu Leaning heavily on a secret note on 2G pricing prepared by the Union Finance Ministry and sent to the PMO with Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee's approval, Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Wednesday urged the Supreme Court to order a CBI probe against Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram for his role in the sale of valuable spectrum at throwaway prices. The 25 March 2011 document, written by P.G.S Rao, Deputy...
More »Address supply side on food: World Bank
-The Business Standard Demand-side control cannot be an answer beyond a point to India’s persistently high food price inflation, the World Bank said on Monday. Consumer price-based food inflation in India has been at 10-20 per cent for quite a long while, noted its report on ‘Food inflation in South Asia’. The Bank’s chief economist for the region, Kalpana Kochhar, said controlling inflation in India was a difficult job for the Reserve Bank...
More »Many holes to fill in land bill by Surojit Gupta & Subodh Ghildiyal
The UPA government's land acquisition bill was expected to fill gaps in the archaic 1894 act and streamline the process of land acquisition and ensure fair compensation to farmers and landowners. But even before the bill is introduced in Parliament murmurs of dissent are being heard. The Land Acquisition Amendment Bill, piloted by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh, has drawn fire from critics for legitimizing purchase of vast tracts of land,...
More »CAG nails Bengal Left on food supply
-The Telegraph The Comptroller and Auditor General has found gross deficiencies by the food and supplies department when the Left was in power in Bengal. The CAG report for 2009-2010 says the state food and supplies department could not claim central subsidy worth Rs 133.66 crore as it failed to furnish annual accounts of the public distribution system for the period 2005-2010. The report also says the finance department, through which the Centre...
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