-PTI NEW DELHI: Nearly a year after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation, the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills returned to banks are still being "processed in all earnest" through a sophisticated currency verification system, the RBI has said. In reply to an RTI query, the central bank said it has processed about 1,134 crore pieces of Rs 500 notes and 524.90 crore pieces of Rs 1,000 junked notes, having face...

-Scroll.in The recent starvation death in Simdega epitomises a much larger problem of Aadhaar-related exclusion from the public distribution system in Jharkhand. The recent death of 11-year old Santoshi Kumari in Simdega district of Jharkhand has rightly stirred the country’s conscience. The context of this tragedy, however, is poorly understood, not least because of the Jharkhand government’s obfuscation. According to the family’s video testimonies, Santoshi died after starving for eight days. Even...

-Scroll.in Aadhaar is depriving the most vulnerable people of their grain entitlements. Eleven-year-old Santoshi Kumari died asking for rice on September 28, eight months after her family stopped getting food rations from the government because their ration card was not linked to their Aadhaar, the biometrics-based 12-digit unique identification number that the Centre wants all Indian residents to have. The child’s death in Jharkhand’s Simdega district has elicited official responses that verge...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Telecom operators are bombarding their consumers with messages to link their SIM cards with Aadhaar, going so far as to threaten a disconnection in services. Those who use Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, among others, have been fielding frequent SMS alerts and tele-calls from mobile operators and their field associates, asking them to link their numbers with Aadhaar. Telecom companies cite a directive from the Department...

-Livemint.com Govt plans to?help firms revamp manufacturing units,?refurbish Machinery,?ensure subsidized power in bid to produce drugs such as penicillin at competitive rates New Delhi: The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP), during a meeting on Wednesday, urged pharma companies to strive for self-sufficiency in critical drugs like penicillin, rifampicin and insulin, in a sign of government concern over India’s dependence on Chinese imports. A large number of so-called active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), or bulk drugs,...