-The Indian Express Financial justification for Aadhaar doesn’t require it to cover entire population or have multiple uses Some people think of Aadhaar as a magic bullet for India. Others oppose it for privacy concerns. The government has showcased Aadhaar as a tool for targeted subsidy payments. As with all government programmes, the public should be sceptical, and the government must demonstrate through a cost-benefit analysis that the expenditure of public money...

-The Hindu Any political benefit the Congress hopes to reap in 2014 will come at the cost of reducing the effectiveness of social welfare schemes In getting its ministers to endorse the shift to cash transfers from the AICC office in New Delhi, the Congress has highlighted the political nature of the move. The party clearly expects cash transfers to play the same role for it in 2014 that the National Rural...

-The Telegraph Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ambitious plan to replace the leak-prone subsidy regime with direct cash transfers to bank accounts of beneficiaries may get delayed in Bengal because of tardy progress of biometric enrolment of residents in the National Population Register (NPR). Data available with the state’s directorate of census operations, which is overseeing NPR biometric enrolment, show that only 18.8 per cent of the population has been covered under the...

-The Business Standard Full country coverage, in stages, by April 2014 UIDAI, FinMin given prime responsibility to work with ministries, states for national coverage The government today made its intention clear of exploiting an Aadhaar-based direct cash transfer system as a political plank in the next Lok Sabha polls, due in 2014. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today cleared the schedule for implementation from January 1 of government subsidies and entitlements to beneficiaries...

-The Times of India ALLAHABAD: From December 1, for booking a ticket in any reserved class of the train, a passenger will have to produce one of the prescribed proofs of identity failing which the said passenger will be treated as ticketless traveler and will have to pay fine accordingly. This provision will, however, not affect the existing provision of Tatkal scheme where during the journey, the passenger is required to show...