-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Telecom operators are bombarding their consumers with messages to link their SIM cards with Aadhaar, going so far as to threaten a disconnection in services. Those who use Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, among others, have been fielding frequent SMS alerts and tele-calls from mobile operators and their field associates, asking them to link their numbers with Aadhaar. Telecom companies cite a directive from the Department...

-Scroll.in The con involves the fraudulent withdrawal of money from bank accounts of victims with the help of a SIM card, Aadhaar and the United Payments Interface. The police in Delhi and the neighbouring township of Noida are investigating several complaints of fraud in which money was suspected to be siphoned out of bank accounts of victims with the help of a Unified Payment Interface-supported application linked to Aadhaar, the 12-digit biometrically...

-TheWire.in The World Bank’s estimate that Aadhaar has the potential to save $11 billion in subsidies every year has repeatedly been used by the Centre to justify the programme. But does this figure hold up under close scrutiny? Evidence-based policy-making usually proceeds by outlining the problem at hand, discussing various solutions, conducting studies to understand the effectiveness of these solutions and then prescribing a course of action based on accumulated evidence. It’s safe...

-Livemint.com According to a senior BJP minister, a preliminary probe by the Maharashtra government identified these ‘bank accounts without a credible credit history’ Mumbai: The Maharashtra government has spotted nearly 1.5 million suspicious bank accounts it suspects were created merely to grab the benefits of its Rs34,022 crore farm loan waiver. According to a senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) minister who is also a member of the ministerial group on farm loan waiver,...

-Scroll.in Inability of local officials and infrastructure to cope with the complex technologies driving the scheme could be leaving lakhs of workers unpaid. This year’s Economic Survey lists several “improvements” in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act brought about since 2014-’15. Mostly, these “improvements” are technological initiatives – greater convergence with other programmes, “geo-tagging” of MNREGA assets. They have not made a difference on two of the stated purposes – timely...