The Assam government will introduce biometric smart cards for beneficiaries in three districts of the state on a pilot basis in order to make the public distribution system more transparent and efficient. Assam food and civil supplies minister Nazrul Islam today announced that the Centre has cleared a Rs 8-crore proposal submitted by the government to computerise the system in three districts. Under the scheme, the beneficiaries will be issued biometric ration...

The Haryana government Monday warned banks against recovering outstanding loans from the wages earned by people under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA). Haryana Financial Commissioner and Principal Secretary (panchayat and development department) P Raghavendra Rao said that banks, at their own level, could not recover their loan amount out of the monies received by them (banks) for payment as wages to those employed under MGNREGA. Rao said that...

Aadhar, the project to give unique identification number to every resident, will be launched in the State by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah in a week. In the first phase, 3.11 crore individuals are targeted to be enrolled by March next in seven districts. Addressing a press conference here on Friday, Minister for Civil Supplies J. Krishna Rao admitted that there was certain percentage of pilferage in every government scheme. Aadhar (UID...

The Planning Commission has expressed inability to provide funds for implementing the National Food Security Act in the final lap of the Eleventh Five Year Plan, arguing that doing so would mean it will have to divert funds from existing schemes. Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in his presentation before the National Advisory Council (NAC) here on Friday, proposed the rollout of the scheme from the beginning of...

While there is all-round concern about how the NREGA funds are being utilised at the grass-roots level, the Union rural development ministry has initiated the process of inducting technology to streamline the delivery system under NREGA. This will have a revolutionary impact on programme delivery. With about 50 million people working on site in 2,50,000 panchayats all across the country, the magnitude of the task is daunting. However, once the initial...