-The Indian Express   According to sources, DBT barely figured in the party's manifesto consultation process or during discussions After launching it with much fanfare and touting it as the next electoral game-changer, the Congress seems to have distanced itself from its ambitious Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme. There has also been a discernible dip in the UPA government's interest in the scheme, which has manifested itself in no review meetings having taken...

-Live Mint To alleviate poverty and extend true food security to its people India must bring efficiency to public expenditures In the Indian economy, where almost half of the average household's expenditures goes toward food and half the labour force is engaged in agriculture, one cannot simply wish away the centrality of agriculture just because its contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) hovers around a comparatively low 14%. India's agriculture is responsible...

-The Times of India   NEW DELHI: The curtains are down on former chief minister Sheila Dikshit's Annshree Yojna. The over one lakh beneficiaries will be enrolled for the food security programme, and the ration is expected to be supplied from May 1. The cash-for-food scheme was the first such project of the Delhi government launched by UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi in December 2012 to promote the UPA's idea of cash transfer as...

-The Hindustan Times       Gandhinagar (Gujarat): Narendra Modi may have criticised Aadhaar, but official documents show the Gujarat government has implemented the central programme efficiently, while collecting more personal data than required in some cases. The Gujarat government also warned people of "penal action" if the data was not submitted, the documents said, adding chief minister Modi was appointed as the chairperson of the committee overseeing the implementation of Aadhaar. These documents...

-The Financial Express   Even in the BJP's Chhattisgarh, the costs of running the PDS outweigh the benefits-Aadhaar is the obvious answer   The first nail in Aadhaar's coffin, it has to be said, was driven in by none other than Nandan Nilekani. The day the father of the UIDAI's Aadhaar decided not to be a technocrat anymore, and chose to become a Congressman, he gave Aadhaar a distinct political flavour. It was now...