-The Times of India UPA-II's flagship direct cash transfer scheme has run into rough weather following warnings of a potential scam in the making, and evoking concerns of serious delays. Government functionaries have raised the red flag about how cash would be finally disbursed to beneficiaries and whether the National Population Register (NPR) would come into play in some states instead of the Unique Identification (UID) number to identify the end-users. Senior...

-The Hindu Centre buoyed by pilot scheme’s success Encouraged by the response to its pilot scheme on Home delivery of contraceptives by women health workers, the Centre has decided to extend the programme across the country with immediate effect. The initiative of supplying contraceptives — condoms, oral contraceptive pills (OCP) and emergency contraceptive pills — at home by accredited social health activists (ASHAs) was launched on a pilot basis in 233 districts in...

-Outlook Hyderabad: Union government is all set to provide loans to women self help groups (SHGs) at the rate of seven per cent from April 1 next year and at four per cent to the target group in 150 selected districts, Union Minister for Rural Development Jairam Ramesh announced here today. "Loans will be extended to Self Help Groups at 7 per cent from April 1 while in another 150 districts, selected...

-The Times of India Heir apparent Rahul Gandhi on Friday said a successful 'direct cash transfer' can power Congress to victory in the next two elections. "If we get this programme right, we will win the next two general elections," Rahul reportedly told a meeting of Congress chiefs of 51 districts where the cash transfer scheme is to be rolled out. The remark provided the bluntest evidence that Congress is banking on the...

-The Times of India Crest Cash transfers have been described as the world's favourite new anti-poverty device. As India gets set to implement it, TOI-Crest finds out if the politics will ever be divorced from the cash The UPA government's ambitious plan to introduce direct cash transfers (DCT) by January 1, 2013 reflects both the political desperation of a beleaguered government and the urgent need to reform India's inefficient and corrupt public...