-The Times of India Crest The biggest hurdle for the DCT programme is the identification of the poor. The "gamechanger" announcement of the UPA 2 government on Direct Cash Transfers (DCT) for 45 schemes has generated much debate through the week with opinions flying around faster than money can get electronically transferred. At the heart of it, the idea of this proposed DCT is unexceptionable. Existing programmes where government transfers money to...

-The Times of India The Election Commission (EC) on Wednesday rapped petroleum minister M Veerappa Moily for having violated the model code of conduct with his poll-eve announcement of plans to increase LPG subsidy cap from six to nine cylinders a year. Expressing its strong disapproval of the announcement made on Tuesday - adjudged by the poll watchdog as promise of a financial grant - the EC cautioned Moily to be...

-Governance Now An alumnus of IIT Kanpur, Ram Sewak Sharma is a 1978 batch Indian administrative service officer belonging to Jharkhand cadre. Sharma is praised for laying down IT infrastructure in Jharkhand. In his role as the director general of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) Sharma is chauffeuring ‘Aadhaar-enabled service delivery’ which would result in saving huge financial resources to the public exchequer. In an interview with Pratap Vikram Singh,...

-The Indian Express The Petroleum Ministry has asked the Prime Minister’s Office to defer the rollout of the direct cash subsidy transfer scheme by at least three months. The ministry told the PMO on Monday that its oil marketing companies are not ready to implement the scheme even in the 51 districts identified in the first phase. Pointing out that bank accounts need to be opened on behalf of the beneficiaries, the...

-Outlook The cap on subsidised LPG has the UPA regime worried Something Cookin’     There’s definitely going to be a relook at the six-subsidised-cylinders cap     Fear that LPG could cause a replay of the “onion impact” on 2014 polls     Pressure from all parties for increasing number of subsidised cylinders     Central government keen that states too share burden of extra cylinders      But that could be tricky when discussing Centre-state revenue-sharing Cylinder Pricing     Subsidised cylinders...