-The Pioneer Integrating unique identification number project “Aadhaar” with various social sector schemes like rural employment guarantee programme and PDS would yield rich dividends for the government according to cost benefit analysis study done by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy (NIPFP). “After taking into account all the costs, and making modest assumptions about leakages, the study finds that the Aadhaar project would yield an internal rate of return of 52.85...

-The Hindustan Times The UPA government's ambitious unique identification or Aadhaar project would result in saving of about Rs. 1,10,000 crore by 2020, around 58% of expenditure of major public welfare schemes, a Planning Commission study released on Saturday said. The Prime Minister's Office had given April 2014 as the deadline for disbursing cash transfer through the UIDAI platform for all major government schemes. A cost benefit analysis done by the National...

-The Times of India The government may raise the annual cap of six cylinders on subsidized cooking gas after the petroleum minister faced persistent demands from Congress leaders at the party conclave in Surajkund on Friday. The limit on subsidized LPG cylinders could go up to nine cylinders, and to 12 closer to elections. While Congress had in September expressed discomfiture with the decision to put a limit on subsidized cylinders, it...

-The Economic Times It's extreme weather season in Asia again. Deadly cyclones, blinding rain, floods and mudslides are becoming the norm from Nepal to Fiji. The world's policymakers must reflect on extreme weather patterns while budgeting their nations' finances. In Thailand last year's floods caused losses of $46.5 billion. Reconstruction costs will reach at least $50 billion, according to the government and UN's assessments. In Pakistan widespread flooding two years ago affected 20...

-ANI The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has launched its 'public data portal' for the Aadhaar project in line with the national data sharing and accessibility policy (NSDAP) 2012. The portal will enable the public to access several anonymised datasets generated in the UIDAI ecosystem. The public data portal is in consonance with the larger vision of the Government of India to make data available through data.gov.in. The UIDAI has also been...