The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance finds the UID project to be “conceptualised with no clarity” and “directionless”. THE Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance has dealt a body blow to the Unique Identification (UID) project. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up under the Planning Commission by an executive order on January 28, 2009. The scheme involves the collection of demographic and biometric information to issue ID numbers to...

-The Hindu   Despite low literacy rates, most of the low-income single women in the country are not dependent on their families but run their households on their own, according to the findings of a study released by Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh. However, since the government does not consider them so, they are neglected and forced to survive on less than the prescribed minimum wage. Mr. Ramesh released the study...

She has spent considerable time researching female infanticide. Sharada Srinivasan talks about why elimination of the girl child is prevalent all over the country. Daughter elimination is very much prevalent in Tamil Nadu even if not as intense as in other parts of the country. Sharada Srinivasan, assistant professor in International Development Studies at York University Toronto, has spent a considerable amount of time researching this subject. Her book Daughter Deficit:...

The Union government has cleared an external loan to finance part of the programme launched by the Ministry of Rural Development in left wing extremism-affected villages. The clearance is for a loan of $500 million from the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to speed up construction of rural roads. Union Minister of Rural Development Jairam Ramesh has, in a letter, urged Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee to issue directions for negotiating and early signing...

-The Hindu The Union government has expressed displeasure with as many as seven Chief Ministers for their failure to commence the crucial Socio-Economic and Caste census (SECC) based on which beneficiaries will be ranked for various welfare schemes including the proposed legal entitlement for food. The irony is that three of them belong to the Congress, which heads the UPA government at the Centre, while another is an ally. Of the three...