-Live Mint Step is another sign of government intent to move towards direct transfer for all programmes The Union cabinet on Thursday approved a proposal that will eventually lead to the direct transfer of cash subsidies to farmers for fertilizer, two weeks after it put in place the architecture to enable such a transition. The step is another sign of the government’s intent to move towards a regime of direct transfer of cash...

-The Hindu The Finance Ministry proposal to create a National Investment Board with extraordinary authority to supersede individual ministries and decide the fate of expensive infrastructure projects is a retrograde measure that strikes at the root of democratic governance. The basic tenets of all law-making include public participation, equity and justice, more so when it comes to the environment and welfare. India’s laws on protection of the environment, forests, wildlife and...

-The Business Standard A decision has been taken to gradually initiate Aadhaar and non-Aadhaar based LPG subsidy transfer through the OMCs  Having capped subsidised LPG cylinder to six, the government plans to move to a single price for domestic LPG by directly transferring subsidy to consumers with or without Aadhaar number. A committee of officials from ministries of petroleum, banking, expenditure, finance and UIDAI will prepare a white paper on the modalities...

-Mainstream Weekly Intense and motivated propaganda, powerful national and international diplomatic pressure, verging on pure and simple arms-twisting of the kind the Third World has been facing for decades by means of the active role of the econo-mic hit-men in the policy establishments, huge cash-back lobbying, both in India and abroad, blunt attempts to bamboozle the persons holding key positions in India’s policy establishment through a combination of hissing and kissing...

-The Times of India Comptroller and auditor general Vinod Rai on Monday defended his audit reports and said they were carried out with objectivity and in a professional manner. "To ensure that our professional and personal conduct is above reproach, we have adopted a code of ethics comprising the general ethical requirements of integrity, objectivity, professional secrecy and competence," he said addressing an accountants general (AGs) conference in the Capital. The three-day conference...