-TheWire.in While the system was rightly designed to eliminate ghost beneficiaries, the impact of exclusion errors needs to be professionally and independently evaluated in detail. The direct benefit transfer (DBT) system has come to dominate the discourse on public service delivery in India. The existing rhetoric around its efficacy being one of anti-corruption, cost efficiency, and elimination of middlemen. Payments under DBT are made to low-income households using an elaborate, digitised system...

-The Telegraph Centre questions each estimation exercise, says the numbers have emerged from extrapolation, limited datasets and unproven assumptions New Delhi: A top public health expert has urged the government to help resolve the intense debate over India’s Covid-19 death toll by using the population census later this year to directly count the dead over the past two years. Prabhat Jha, professor at the Centre for Global Health, University of Toronto, Canada, who...

-The Telegraph First-year undergraduate and postgraduate candidates of Jamia Millia Islamia began a boycott of their online classes on Monday Most first-year undergraduate and postgraduate students of Jamia Millia Islamia began a boycott of their online classes on Monday, demanding reopening of physical classes amid a widespread feeling that the Centre wants them to stay away from a campus it deems troublesome. Some commentators had earlier expressed fears elsewhere that autocratic regimes could...

-TheWire.in The queries pertain to the safeguards in place to check state surveillance, the extent to which state surveillance is justified and seek suggestions on how to strengthen cyber security and balance individual rights with national security interests. New Delhi: The expert committee appointed by the Supreme Court to probe the alleged use of Pegasus spyware against journalists, opposition politicians, judges and others, has sought comments from the public on 11 queries...

-IDROnline.org/ TheWire.in "The problem with Indian democracy is that despite the presence of millions of voters, the pool of decision makers get smaller and narrower at the top." Aruna Roy is a social activist and founder of the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (MKSS). Her work and leadership led to the enactment of the Right to Information (RTI) Act 2005—a landmark act that empowers citizens to demand transparency and accountability from government institutions....