-The Business Standard A Supreme Court interim order says it should not, but the issues involved may not be quite so clear cut Even as the Supreme Court sits to hear arguments on the applicability of the unique identification number, popularly known as Aadhaar, the debate around the unique identification number has already shifted from its success or reach to whether it should be mandatory. In an interim order, the apex court...

-The Economic Times MUMBAI: Bank account holders can now send money to any individual through mobile banking by merely entering the recipient's Aadhaar number. National Payments Corporation of India, which launched Aadhaar-based remittances on Wednesday, sees its use in micro-payments such as taxi fares and small purchases. The transfers can be done using the most basic phones through SMS for small amounts or through mobile banking apps for amounts over Rs...

-The Economic Times A recent Supreme Court interim order has reopened the debate on Aadhaar. We need to understand the implications of the order and reassess the "why" and "what" of Aadhaar. The order says that no service should be denied to a person who doesn't have Aadhaar. This is a fair observation. Aadhaar has always intended to be an instrument of inclusion, not exclusion. The Unique Identification Authority of India, which...

-The Indian Express Rajasthan/ Delhi: Three states where the UPA govt has rolled out direct cash transfers go to polls later this year. On the ground, the scheme has not quite turned out the game-changer the government reckoned it would. A frail Gori Sahaab, 90, instructs his son to pour mustard oil into a tiny diya in his one-room house. He once used a kerosene lamp but has stopped buying that fuel....

-The Indian Express The Supreme Court order restricting authorities from denying a benefit or service to any citizen of India for not having an Aadhaar card has put the Congress-led government, which had made Aadhaar the basis of its ambitious and overarching Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme, in a tight spot. The idea behind linking DBT - which aims at eliminating middlemen and plugging leakages in schemes - to Aadhaar was sound,...