-The Indian Express Mumbai: Aadhaar the basis of several fresh proposals, including introducing Aadhaar-based biometric systems in all Central government offices. Despite the decisive push given to it by the NDA government since it came to power and by Prime Minister Narendra Modi himself, the ambitious Aadhaar project is far from meeting its target of universal coverage by June this year, also impacting the Direct Benefits Transfer Scheme that is based...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government has floated a draft proposal to create a national database for people with disabilities. The proposal seeks to link the unique disability identification card - a smart card for all people with disabilities - to a central database to "ensure homogeneity and uniformity and streamlining the tracking of physical and financial progress of benefit delivery at all levels". The ministry had in October last year floated the...

-The Telegraph Bangalore: Six years ago, a 16-year-old Revanna M had missed a chance to travel to France for football training because, as an orphan, he didn't have the documents to obtain a passport. Memories of that heartbreak returned to haunt him last summer when he was chosen by an NGO as one of six underprivileged youths to visit Brazil during the football World Cup. Again, a passport seemed elusive for Revanna,...

-Economic and Political Weekly Direct benefi t transfers in the form of cash cannot replace the supply of food through the public distribution system. Though it is claimed otherwise, DBT does not address the problems of identifying the poor ("targeting") and DBT in place of the PDS will expose the vulnerable to additional price fluctuation. Further, if the PDS is dismantled, there will also be no need or incentive for procurement...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: The number of people who have registered for an Aadhaar identification number in the Capital outstrips its population by over 27%, raising questions about the efficacy of the controversial biometric registration process. About 20 million people have enrolled in Delhi for the unique 16-digit number, 27.6% more than the city's population of 16.8 million, according to the 2011 census. Officials associated with the enrollment process, however, said it was...