Nandan Nilekani-led Technology Advisory Group for Unique Projects (TAGUP) on Friday submitted its report to finance minister Pranab Mukherjee suggesting systematic change in the way key projects are incubated and executed. The report has mooted the idea of a "mission leader" for every project and a dedicated mission execution team. "Strong support from the top leadership within government, dedicated team at the level of project implementation and ownership and commitment at various...

The government has a plan to reach welfare to the poor without wasting money. It wants to put hard cash in their hands instead of spending on welfare programmes. To begin with, it wants to end the public distribution system of food grain and give money directly to the people. Its logic: the new system of cash transfer will plug leakages and save an enormous amount of money. But is it...

Query on SC, ST status included; caste-based enumeration from June to September 2011 Census 2011, billed as the largest peacetime mobilisation in the world, will see the massive exercise of population enumeration across the country simultaneously, between February 9 and 28. Registrar-General and Census Commissioner C. Chandramouli said on Wednesday that the biggest-ever census attempted in the history of mankind to enumerate the country's 1.2-billion population would be conducted across 35...

Unique Identity card (UID) project, an initiative of the Unique Identification Authority of India, was launched here on Friday. It was initiated by deputy commissioner Rahul Sharma who would be the first person to receive it in the district. The ambitious plan aims to provide a 12-digit identification number which will be stored in a centralized database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information photograph, ten fingerprints and iris...

Activists and researchers today raised doubts over security of data being collected for the Unique Identification (UID)project and its public utility. "The personal information being collected for the UID would be stored in a central database system without assuring protection against data theft. There could be a possibility of profiling, tracking and surveillance with the help of the information," Usha Ramanathan, an independent law researcher said today at a press conference. There...