-The Hindu The UPA government's response to questions on Aadhaar's voluntariness continues to be marked by ‘intentional ambiguity.' Compulsion by stealth is used to camouflage the use of Aadhaar as a neo-liberal policy tool "This debate is ... about our specific disagreement on the meaning of that one word," i.e. "the Government now seek to persuade us that ‘voluntary' actually means ‘compulsory'." That was Nick Clegg in the United Kingdom's House of Commons...
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Aadhaar-based LPG subsidy put on hold-Jyotika Sood
-Down to Earth Cap on subsidised cylinders raised to 12 per year In a Cabinet meeting on Thursday, the Congress-led UPA government at the Centre decided to suspend its ambitious project of transferring subsidy on LPG cylinders directly into the accounts of consumers. To avail the subsidy, all consumers were required to get their Aadhaar or unique identification number linked to their LPG consumer number and bank accounts. Besides, the Centre has...
More »Growing demand for cropland threatens environment, UN agency reports
-The United Nations If demand for new land on which to grow food continues at the current rate, by 2050, high-end estimates are that area nearly the size of Brazil could be ruined, with vital forests, savannahs and grassland lost, the United Nations today warned in a new report. Up to 849 million hectares of natural land may be degraded, according to report, "Assessing Global Land Use: Balancing Consumption with Sustainable Supply",...
More »India’s SO2 emissions up by 71 per cent in 5 years, shows US study -Aparna Pallavi
-Down to Earth 'CPCB underestimating pollution from coal-fired thermal power plants' Data released by NASA's Aura satellite calls into question the veracity of Central Pollution Control Board's (CPCB) claim made in 2012 that the mean sulphur dioxide (SO2) emissions in India decreased in 2010 as compared to 2001 level. A new study led by Zifeng Lu of Decision and Information Sciences Division of Argonne National Laboratory in Argonne, USA, based on images...
More »Aadhaar link needed to control subsidy leakage: Moily
-The Times of India BANGALORE: Union minister for petroleum and natural gas M Veerappa Moily on Saturday said the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG (DBTL) scheme is necessary to reduce leakage of subsidy. However, he didn't say whether the government is going ahead with making the linkage compulsory as a related case is pending before the Supreme Court. On the prevailing confusion about the scheme due to a recent apex court...
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