-The Hindustan Times The government will begin switching over to a system of direct cash transfers for welfare in the New Year and hopes to roll it out all over the country in the ensuing 364 days. This is a radical departure from the existing welfare delivery mechanism so riddled with leaks that a mere fraction of the benefits reach the intended target groups. By co-building these transfers with biometric enumeration...

-NDTV The arrest of two young women from Maharashtra for their Facebook posts has led to a national debate over Section 66(A) of the IT Act. The Supreme Court today will hear a public interest litigation (PIL) that challenges this portion of the Act, which deals with punishment for sending "offensive messages" through a computer or communication device. The case has been filed by a student named Shreya Singhal. She alleges that Section...

-The Telegraph Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s ambitious plan to replace the leak-prone subsidy regime with direct cash transfers to bank accounts of beneficiaries may get delayed in Bengal because of tardy progress of biometric enrolment of residents in the National Population Register (NPR). Data available with the state’s directorate of census operations, which is overseeing NPR biometric enrolment, show that only 18.8 per cent of the population has been covered under the...

-The Hindu Activists question change of policy for rehabilitation; want cut-off date of March 2007 adhered to strictly Holding the Delhi Government squarely responsible for following a policy of large-scale displacement of slum dwellers without adequate norms for providing rehabilitation to all of them, activists working for the rights of slum dwellers have demanded that the cut-off date of March 31, 2007, be followed strictly to ensure that no one is discriminated...

-Outlook Jaipur: The Rajasthan government today accepted the state OBC commission report, paving way for five per cent reservation in government jobs and educational institutes to five communities, including Gujjars, under Specially Backward Category. The commission, led by justice (retd) I S Israni, had handed over the report to the Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot on November 22. The decision was taken at a cabinet meeting today. The reservation in the state is set to...