-The Economic Times Aadhaar came with a lot of promises. They were brought by some of the brightest in India. Aadhaar promises to remove duplicates and ghosts from government databases, deliver subsidies to beneficiaries, collect taxes, provide financial inclusion and eliminate corruption. Here is why it cannot deliver anything it promises. Aadhaar came with a lot of promises. They were brought by some of the brightest in India. Promise 1: Removing Fraud and Duplicates In...

-The Indian Express Govt orders 18-hr power supply to villages, all villages to be covered by 2019 THE STATE Cabinet on Tuesday decided to allow central audit agencies such as the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) to audit development authorities in the state, which included the Ghaziabad Development Authority (GDA). The previous Akhilesh government had denied permission to the CAG to audit GDA. In the second Cabinet meeting chaired by Chief...

-The Hindu Auditor denied access to GST Network The crucial question about how and where auditors should get access to GST data continues to hang fire, even as hundreds of CAG auditors are being put through specialised training in anticipation of the implementation of the new tax regime from July 1. Various government officials, including ministers, have been insisting that the proposed tax regime will come into force as scheduled. The GST Network...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has protested with the finance ministry against the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN), a special purpose vehicle majority owned by private companies, refusing to give access to taxpayers data on its network for scrutiny and audit. The GSTN is a private limited company floated to aid the rollout of the new indirect tax regime. The company will provide information...

-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...