-The Hindu Aadhaar-based biometric authentication did not reduce PDS leakages, finds Jharkhand-based empirical study “Aadhaar has curtailed leakages of government subsidies... Through Aadhaar, savings worth ₹90,000 crore have accrued to the government,” said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, then CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (uidAI) and current Revenue Secretary, in uidAI’s 2017-18 annual report. But not so fast, say Professors Karthik Muralidharan, Paul Niehaus and Sandip Sukthankar. They have just published a...

-The Economic Times Registrar General of India will ask uidAI to verify biometric data of individuals NEW DELHI: The Registrar General of India will ask the Unique Identification Authority of India (uidAI) to verify biometrics of individuals for inclusion in the recently revived National Population Register (NPR) programme, instead of collecting them afresh. A senior home ministry official told ET that this puts an end to the debate on which agency has primacy...

-Hindustan Times The CPCB itself has been given a month’s time to publish the guidelines for restoration water bodies, not presently protected by any national legislation which protects water bodies more than 2.5 acres in size. Gurugram: The National Green Tribunal (NGT), last week, instructed all states and Union territories to follow Haryana’s example and create detailed inventories of water bodies not already protected by any law, review their existing framework...

-The Hindu Poor people are running from pillar to post as the Aadhaar payment bridge routinely obstructs their welfare benefits Perhaps you will remember “l’affaire Airtel” — the mass diversion of LPG subsidies to Airtel wallets that came to light in 2017. Many of the wallets were unwanted, or even unknown to the recipients. Those affected, fortunately, included millions of middle-class Airtel customers who protested when the goof-up emerged. The subsidy money...

-The Hindu To allow a person to exit Aadhaar on reaching 18 The government will seek legal counsel on whether it can delete the biometric data of young people who choose to quit Aadhaar once they turn 18, uidAI CEO and Revenue Secretary Ajay Bhushan Pandey told The Hindu. The Union Cabinet recently approved amendments to the Aadhaar Act, including a provision that gives a child, on attaining maturity (18 years), the power...