-The Hindu Business Line Beneficiaries under DBT rise by only 2 crore, value of transactions by Rs. 443 crore New Delhi: The ambitious direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme now covers more than 300 Central schemes, but despite the significant increase in its scope, the number of government beneficiaries and the value of transactions seem to be plateauing. Between August this year and the last, the number of DBT beneficiaries increased by only 2...

-The Indian Express The government’s move in May triggered outrage, notably from states such as Kerala, since the rules prohibited sale of cattle for slaughter at animal markets. New Delhi: Four months after its plan of notifying a ban on sale of cattle for slaughter in animal markets met with opposition from several states, the Centre has decided to try a different approach — it is now asking states to write...

-TheWire.in In addition to “launching” a scheme that basically already existed, the prime minister’s claim that his government has a good record on rural electrification contradicts the data. Prime Minister Narendra Modi this week announced a reportedly brand new scheme to electrify all villages in India and to provide electricity to all by the end of 2018. The scheme was called the Pradhan Mantri Sahaj Bijli Har Ghar Yojana or ‘Saubhagya’ intiative....

-Scroll.in The manner in which the transfer was effected has raised questions about transparency in judicial appointments. Justice Jayant Patel of the Karnataka High Court resigned on September 25, after he was transferred to the Allahabad High Court. The transfer meant Patel lost the opportunity to become chief justice of the Karnataka High Court, where he was the second-most senior judge. In the Allahabad High Court, he would have been relegated to the...

-PTI After demonetisation last November, the Narendra Modi government has pushed banks into deploying millions of points-of-sale (PoS) machines to encourage online payments Mumbai: The government’s digital payments push, mainly online card payments through point-of-sale (PoS) machines, may leave already capital starved banks bleed by a whopping Rs3,800 crore annually, warns a report. After demonetisation last November, the Narendra Modi government has pushed banks into deploying millions of points-of-sale (PoS) machines to encourage...