-Outlook The faecal matter hits the rotary blades, politically-but we're still staring at a sanitation disaster "Indians defecate everywhere. They defecate mostly besides the railway tracks. But they also defecate on the beaches; they defecate on the hills; they defecate on the river banks; they defecate on the streets; they never look for cover." -V.S. Naipaul An Area of Darkness, 1964 Not...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: For the beleaguered UPA government, here are some words of praise. The flagship rural employment guarantee scheme has comes in for praise from the World Bank, five years after it described the programme as "policy barrier" to economic development and poverty alleviation. The World Development Report 2014 has described the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act as a "stellar example of rural development". At the heart...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Bank Account holders can now send money to any individual through mobile banking by merely entering the recipient's Aadhaar number. National Payments Corporation of India, which launched Aadhaar-based remittances on Wednesday, sees its use in micro-payments such as taxi fares and small purchases. The transfers can be done using the most basic phones through SMS for small amounts or through mobile banking apps for amounts over Rs...

-PTI The job scheme has established the country as a model of inclusive development worldwide The government's ambitious rural job scheme MNREGA has not only unleashed a revolution in rural India but has also established the country as a model of inclusive development worldwide, says a new World Bank report. Hailing MNREGA, 'The World Development Report 2014 (WDR 2014), Risk and Opportunity -Managing Risk for Development' says the scheme illustrates how good governance and social mobilisation...

-The Economic Times A recent Supreme Court interim order has reopened the debate on Aadhaar. We need to understand the implications of the order and reassess the "why" and "what" of Aadhaar. The order says that no service should be denied to a person who doesn't have Aadhaar. This is a fair observation. Aadhaar has always intended to be an instrument of inclusion, not exclusion. The Unique Identification Authority of India, which...