-The Times of India NEW DELHI: The use of Aadhaar card is set to become mandatory for all central and state government subsidies and benefits which require funding from the central exchequer with the Centre notifying the unique identity (UID) regulations. While the law had empowered the Centre to mandate use of Aadhaar, the rules clearly stipulate that any agency, such as the oil ministry dealing with cooking gas or HRD's scholarship...

-The Hindu A reasonable aim of 1,500 MT of coal production by 2022 and a calibrated renewable energy push should enable reaching ambitious targets. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s style is to set ambitious targets with impossible-looking deadlines. Perhaps he is inspired by a Gujarati poet who said, “Nishaan chuk maaf, nahi neechu nishaan” (missing the target can be forgiven, setting a low target cannot). This challenges his colleagues and staff to accomplish...

-Hindustan Times New Delhi: Government transport in Haryana, Karnataka and Telangana, industrial areas in the National Capital region, hotels in Himachal Pradesh and banks and insurance offices across India may not function on Friday as central trade unions will hit the streets for a general strike. Last year, the trade union’s strike saw an estimated 15 crore workers take the day off. “This year we expect the figures to be higher,” said...

-The Indian Express The incidence of farmers taking their own lives is higher in regions where cooperative banks are the weakest. Nanded (Maharashtra): The verdant soyabean fields at Digras today are a far cry from the barren landscape they presented only a few months ago. But for residents of this village in Ardhapur taluka of Nanded district, the memories of drought in three out of the last four years will not fade...

-PTI New Delhi: The Centre is working to provide agriculture loans to farmers in a timely manner, Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh said today. NABARD is creating groups of farmers and agriculture producers to provide them cheap loans from banks and till March-end, 2,424 producer groups were set up, he said. “The central government is working expeditiously to provide agriculture loans to farmers according to their needs and in a timely manner,” Singh...