-PTI The much awaited Aadhaar enabled system for direct cash transfer to beneficiaries under social schemes such as MNREGA and pension will be launched today by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh at Dudu, Rajasthan. The payment mechanism is aimed at checking corruption and pilferage in the social sector schemes that seek to promote financial inclusion. The launch of the scheme by the Prime Minister coincides with the second anniversary of Aadhaar project, which is...
More »SEARCH RESULT
UID's next step
-The Business Standard The government needs to be braver with cash transfers On October 20, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is scheduled to launch the first major step in integrating the Unique ID, or Aadhaar, with government welfare schemes. The event is supposed to take place in Dudu, a town in Jaipur district in Congress-ruled Rajasthan. The presence of Congress President Sonia Gandhi also seems to suggest that the United Progressive Alliance...
More »Govt, UNDP Award Biodiversity Governance Models
-Outlook Hyderabad: In a unique initiative to recognise outstanding work in biodiversity conservation at the grass roots level, the Union Government and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) have jointly presented awards to models of biodiversity governance from across the country. The awards were presented to the representatives of the winners at a ceremony held on the sidelines of the ongoing UN convention on biological diversity here last night. A press release from...
More »Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, RTI activists interviewed by Vidya Subrahmaniam
-The Hindu A recent Supreme Court judgment and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s openly expressed views in favour of privacy have raised concerns that attempts are being made to dilute the spirit of the RTI Act and limit its use. Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, the RTI’s movement’s leading lights, share their worries with Vidya Subrahmaniam. * Seven years after its enactment, has the RTI Act even partially fulfilled its objectives? Has it...
More »Health ministry pushes for end to sale of branded drugs -Kounteya Sinha
-The Times of India Medicines in India may not be sold under brand names in the near future. In its biggest move to push generic drugs and do away with brand names, the Union health ministry has ordered states to stop issuing licence for the manufacture or sale of drugs on the basis of their brand name. All pharmaceutical firms applying for licence to market or manufacture fixed dose combination (FDC) drugs will...
More »