-OrissaPost.com Bhubaneswar: The state government lost its direction on execution of the biggest rural employment generation scheme–Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). This was indicated in a Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report on local bodies for the year ended March 2017. Briefing media about the findings of the audit report, Accountant General of Orissa Madhumita Basu said, “The per annum average income of the households (HHs) in...

-PTI The deadline for linking bank accounts and mobile phone numbers with 12-digit biometric identifier Aadhaar has already been extended indefinitely. The government on March 28 extended by three months the deadline of March 31 for linking Aadhaar with welfare schemes, where benefits are Transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India. The deadline now stands extended to June 30, 2018, according to an office memorandum of the Ministry of Electronics and...

-The Hindu Farming must be treated as a market-based enterprise and made viable on its own terms The week-long farmers’ march which reached Mumbai earlier this month, on the anniversary of Gandhi’s Dandi March of 1930, was unprecedented in many ways. It was mostly silent and disciplined, mostly leaderless, non-disruptive and non-violent, and well organised. It received the sympathy of middle class city dwellers, food and water from bystanders, free medical services...

  A national-level public hearing, which was organized at the Gandhi Peace Foundation (Delhi) on 15th March, 2018, has revealed that the intended beneficiaries of various entitlement-based welfare schemes and programmes of the Central government are witnessing difficulties and impediments in accessing the benefits and services. During the public hearing, which was organized by the Right to Food Campaign along with partnering grassroots-level organizations, poor and marginalized citizens from across 14 states...

-Livemint.com RBI’s regulatory powers over PSU banks are weaker than those over the private sector banks, says Urjit Patel, putting the onus of tackling bank frauds such as the one at PNB on the finance ministry Mumbai: Reserve Bank of India (RBI) governor Urjit Patel broke his silence on Wednesday on the PNB fraud, putting up a blistering defence for the regulator and sought to put the onus on the finance ministry...