-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi dispensation, which has used social media as a force multiplier and reaped huge political dividends, is now having to reckon with its rumour-spreading powers that threaten to throw a spanner in the government's GST blitz. In the first three days of the rollout of the new tax regime, the finance ministry has had to step in twice to counter rumours that were spreading like wildfire...

-The Indian Express Aadhaar doesn’t empower people, only the state Ironically, in the week that the UIDAI revealed its draconian face, serving a legal notice to those who exposed flaws in the Aadhaar eco-system, Ajay Pandey (CEO, UIDAI), wrote, “The critics tend to forget that Aadhaar empowers the people, not the state” (‘Criticisms Without Aadhaar’, IE, May 13). However, government data reveals that Pandey is wrong to believe that “Aadhaar empowers...

-The Indian Express Six months later, it is clear that it achieved next to nothing, and inflicted a large cost on the poor and the informal sector. It was six months ago, on November 8, that India hit the headlines the world over, with its sudden demonetisation. It was announced in the evening that, at the stroke of the midnight hour, all bank notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 would cease...

-The Indian Express Six months on, there appears little justification for demonetisation in theories of politics, governance. Demonetisation has been evaluated through multiple dimensions — political, economic, constitutional, legal — and the role of the institutions involved. However, what were the philosophical underpinnings for “the most sweeping change in currency policy that has occurred anywhere in the world in decades”? One might think demonetisation was from the utilitarian school (given the rhetoric around...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Seeking to put to rest fears that the use of Fake identification to obtain Aadhaar cards and the leak of data pose a security threat, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey has said that UID systems are secure and will deter terrorists and money launderers. The use of a Fake Aadhaar ID will prove more hazardous to criminals as compared to...