-The Hindustan Times To check rising public expenditure, the government's two biggest money-spender schemes - subsidised ration for poor and job guarantee in rural areas - will soon be on the Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) platform. The disbursal of subsidy for cooking gas cylinders will come back on the DBT platform after the previous UPA government decided to put it on the hold just before general elections. The UPA, which started transfer...

-The Hindustan Times Not budging from its position, the US remains at the forefront of nudging India to give up its stand on farm subsidies for food stockpiling in order to clinch a trade facilitation pact at the World Trade Organisation. According to sources, US will yet again take up the issue as part of a "larger plan" to get India to drop its position during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to...

-The Hindu Expected to encourage best performers and inspire others Close on the heels of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announcing the ambitious ‘Clean India' mission, the Union Tourism Ministry on Friday said it was working on a "cleanliness index'' for cities in the country to encourage the best performers and, in turn, inspire others to spruce up. "We are preparing a cleanliness index. The methodology has been drafted and index calculated for six...

-The Hindu In addition to adequate provision of funds for cleaning, sanitation training and maintenance of toilets in schools, the issue of fixing accountability must also be addressed The revival of the issue of toilets in schools has brought to the fore a discussion that has for long existed among educationists, with varying positions occupying centre stage at different times. A couple of decades ago, when the deplorable state of education began...

-The Business Standard PlanCom meets this month to hasten implementation; initial focus on target coverage might cover 300 districts After reposing faith in the Aadhaar project at its cabinet meeting last week, the Narendra Modi government wants Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) to 80% of beneficiaries in five key schemes "as soon as possible". These include the cooking gas subsidy, where DBT was stalled under the previous government. The other schemes are on transfer...