-The Hindu Business Line Aadhaar does more damage than good in welfare programmes It is widely believed that Aadhaar-Based Biometric Authentication (ABBA) is necessary to improve the delivery of welfare programmes such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), Public Distribution System (PDS), social security pensions, and so on. This is a misconception. We have been studying these programmes for a decade, focusing mainly on the source of leakages and...
More »SEARCH RESULT
Before Universal Basic Income, We Must First Get Social Spending Basics Right -Anjana Thampi and Ishan Anand
-TheWire.in The Economic Survey 2016-17 devotes a chapter to the provision of a Universal Basic Income (UBI), describing it as a “raging new idea,” a “radical new vision” and “the shortest path to eliminating poverty”. While warning that the UBI “should not become the Trojan horse that usurps the fiscal space for a well-functioning state,” the survey says a de facto UBI can be instituted in the existing “fiscal space”. It...
More »Aadhaar must for MGNREGS work
-The Hindu Other proofs of identity will be allowed till March 31 New Delhi: From April 1, workers in rural areas enrolled under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), which mandates 100 days of work for a household a year, must have an Aadhaar card. Those who have registered under the scheme will be required to give furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar or undergo the enrolment process till March...
More »Private firms collecting Aadhaar data not a great idea, says SC -Utkarsh Anand
-The Indian Express The apex court had earlier permitted voluntary use of Aadhaar cards in social welfare schemes such as LPG subsidy, PDS, MGNREGA, pension schemes and provident fund. New Delhi: THE SUPREME Court Thursday declined to expedite hearing of Aadhaar cases challenging the constitutional validity of the initiative but observed that data collection by private agencies might not be “a great idea”. Chief Justice of India J S Khehar made the remarks...
More »EPFO makes Aadhaar mandatory for its pensioners, members
-PTI NEW DELHI: Retirement fund body EPFO has made it mandatory for its about 50 lakh pensioners and around four crore subscribers to provide either Aadhaar or a proof that they have applied for it till month-end to remain the beneficiary of its social security schemes. "At present it is the correct position that the pensioners as well as members would have to provide Aadhaar or enrolment slips by January 31, 2017,...
More »