The government has asked banks to accept identity proofs issued in other states as valid documents for opening no-frills bank accounts, in a move that will help millions of migrant workers, including domestic helps and drivers, access banking services.  At a specially convened meeting to push the financial inclusion agenda, the finance ministry asked bankers to accept the identity proofs and use their branch network in other states to verify the...

Pilot survey under Project Dipankar in four prosperous districts shows 87 per cent class I students of government schools are undernourished Eighty-seven per cent school children in four districts of West Bengal are undernourished right at the entry level. The shocking numbers are from the yet unpublished report of Project Dipankar, a child tracking system initiated by the department of school education in the state. The project tracks the educational performance...

Nandan Nilekani led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has hit a Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MGNREGA) roadblock. The government had refused to make unique number or Aadhaar mandatory for making wage payment to people enrolled under the world’s largest social security scheme unless all residents are covered. The reason given was that MGNREGA is a universal scheme and anyone can demand work. Unless all resident in a district have...

-Express News Service   A Mumbai-based RTI activist, who had sought information on various issues including the Adarsh Society scam, was found unconscious by roadside at Palsana in Surat district on Sunday. He later told the police that he was abducted by a gang in Mumbai. Santosh Tiwari (42), a former employee of the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) who now works as a security consultant for a private firm, was found unconscious...

Both Nandan Nilekani and his well-wishers are today, two years after he set out on his unique identification (UID) journey, wiser if not a more disillusioned lot. Right at the outset he had acknowledged concerns over privacy issues, saying, “India does not really have a privacy law. So all this will act as an impetus to define the privacy framework for Indians.” That gaping hole is still staring us in...