-The Hindu To the long list of 28 public sector banks in India, one more was added with the inauguration of the Bharatiya Mahila Bank (BMB) on Tuesday by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The bank is unique in more ways than one. It will focus predominantly on women, apart from being staffed largely by them. To the BMB will go the distinction of being the first-ever public sector bank to...
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Women’s bank learns from elder sibling in Maharashtra -Surabhi
-The Indian Express For the Bharatiya Mahila Bank, the country's first pan-India national women's bank, it is a humble rural cooperative women's venture in Maharashtra that has provided the critical input to succeed: How to lend to women who do not have collateral to back their loans. Chetna V Sinha, founder and chairperson of Mann Deshi Mahila Sahakari Bank, explained that this is the prime weakness in giving loans to women. The...
More »Learning by doing-Vijayendra Rao
-The Indian Express For several decades now, the Indian government and a variety of donor agencies have promoted and implemented "livelihoods projects". These projects depend upon women's self-help groups, or SHGs, to raise living standards - particularly of the 25 crore rural poor. In 2011, the Indian government launched the Rs 38,000 crore National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM), also known as Ajeevika (reportedly now being merged with the Mahatma Gandhi National...
More »Digitization seen reducing food theft in India’s PDS system- Kartikay Mehrotra
-Live Mint In the past year, ration cards are being replaced with smartcards that can track food doled out through the PDS system New Delhi: Mohanlal Kapoor, a street vendor in north India, holds a card entitling him to subsidized food for his wife and four children. To get supplies, the Kapoors must battle an estimated 15 million families in their state toting similar pieces of paper that they're not entitled...
More »Sugar economy faces crisis in riot-hit UP belt -Anil Sasi and Surbhi Khyati
-The Indian Express Riot-hit Muzaffarnagar may now be looking at a crisis in its sugar economy. With private mills in the state refusing to start crushing until the Uttar Pradesh government clarifies cane prices, harvesting of crop that should have begun by now has not yet started. A key cane-growing district, Muzaffarnagar is reported to have the highest agricultural GDP in UP. With recent incidents again bringing the district to a boil,...
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