The outcome of a social audit (conducted in April this year) related to the pilot cash transfer programme in the public distribution system (PDS) in Nagri block (Ranchi district) has confirmed that most beneficiaries want back the normal ration system that existed previously. Yet the Jharkhand state government continues with the DBT-based PDS in Nagri block, instead of returning back to the older system, says a press release by the...

-Rediff.com Unless the judges factor in the ungovernability of technologies and their beneficial owners, present and future Presidents, prime ministers, judges, legislators and officials handling sensitive assignments may become redundant with reference to their age-old roles for securing national resources and assets, warns Dr Gopal Krishna. In the moment of Uber-isation and Ola-isation of services, wherein an app links a supplier with a consumer via a platform and the app provider may...

-Business Standard Between FY16 and FY17, the number of farmers enrolled in the scheme declined from about 57.3 million to about 48.5 million, a fall of around 15% Kolkata: The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana (PMFBY), the flagship crop insurance scheme of the Narendra Modi government, has entered its third year of operation, albeit with a substantial decline in farmers' enrolment in its second year, the data reveals. Between FY16 and FY17, the...

-The New Indian Express The New Indian Express has reliably learnt that many PSU banks have warned their employees of coercive action, including salary cuts, if they fail to enroll a minimum of 16 persons a day for Aadhaar. NEW DELHI: Though the jury is still out on the need for Aadhaar, public-sector banks are taking extra pains to ramp up enrolment, as dictated by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology...

-Livemint.com While there are several creditable achievements, it is the deeper structural reforms where expectations from a strong government have not been met Amidst expectations of a magical transformation of the Indian economy, the Narendra Modi government took over the reins in May 2014. During the election campaign, people were led to believe that the Gujarat model of agricultural development, which delivered 8% growth in agriculture during fiscal years 2003-14, would be...