The Straits Times/by Nayan Chanda
In a significant reversal, the Narendra Modi government has laid to rest fears that just to score political points, it would kill a transformational technology for good governance.
Instead of throwing out the unique identification card Aadhaar, created by the previous government, the Modi regime will harness it to directly deliver benefits to millions of recipients, bypassing the sticky fingers of corrupt officials.
The announcement was an important step in fulfilling the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) campaign slogan of "minimum government, maximum governance". To take full advantage of this simple but effective tool of governance, the government needs to clean
up the implementation of the programme, which has been marred by inefficiency and misuse......[Read more]
(The views expressed are the personal view of the writer)