-The Hindu The public distribution system (PDS) and its disbursal of rations to the poor have come under the scanner in Jharkhand after three persons died recently, allegedly owing to lack of food. What happened? On September 28, Santoshi Kumari, an 11-year-old from Simdega district, died. Her mother, Koyli Devi, said the child died of hunger as the family was not getting rations under the State-run PDS for the past several months. The...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Mamata Banerjee government has petitioned the Supreme Court against the Centre's alleged push to make Aadhaar cards mandatory for extending the benefits of social welfare schemes. The petition is scheduled to be heard on Monday. The matter has been listed before the bench of Justices A.K. Sikri and Ashok Bhushan along with another petition, moved by social activist Raghav Tankha, that challenges the government's order to link...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The government has instructed states not to deny benefits under the public distribution system to beneficiaries who don't have Aadhaar numbers or haven't linked their ration cards to the biometric identifier, the directive coming after a Jharkhand girl's recent death from alleged starvation. It has also asked state governments not to delete eligible households from the list of PDS beneficiaries for non-possession of Aadhaar cards and warned of...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Supreme Court has asked the Centre to clarify on Monday that no coercive steps will be taken to make Aadhaar mandatory till a constitution bench rules on the scheme's validity. The directive came in spite of the Centre seeking to assuage concerns by extending the deadline for linking the Aadhaar number to various facilities from December 31 to March 31, next year, for those who do not...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Faced with criticism for forcing people to link their Aadhaar numbers with their mobile connection, thereby creating scope for privacy invasion, the government is considering the option of allowing other identity proofs to complete the verification process. These IDs could include ration card, driver's license and passport. "We are ready to explore other options. We are looking at whether a ration card, or a driver's license,...