-Hindustan Times New Delhi: When seven days of standing in long queues outside banks yielded no results, a 35-year-old scrap dealer allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at his house in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad on Thursday night. MoHAmmed Shakeel was reportedly frustrated because he couldn’t exchange old notes worth Rs 5,000. He had to pay instalments of two loans as well. Shakeel’s family said he went to banks early morning,...

-The Indian Express The problem is particularly pronounced in Bardhaman district — known as the rice bowl of Bengal. Kolkata: West Bengal’s agriculture department has estimated that 35 per cent of the monsoon paddy might go waste if not harvested in time, an exercise that has been badly hit with farmers lacking the cash to pay for labour. The estimate is part of an agriculture department report, commissioned to assess the impact...

-The Telegraph Ahmedabad: Samir Shah never had such spare time in his life as an oil mill owner. This is, after all, the peak season when mills buy oil seeds that are available after the harvesting of kharif crops. But the Saurashtra businessman has been sitting idle the past fortnight. There's no cash to do business. The demonetisation drive has left entrepreneurs like him with a shrunken wallet. And farmers don't usually accept...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: About 57.57 per cent of India's urban population of 300 million has no source of income, socio-economic data released by the government last week suggests, prompting at least one analyst to wonder if this was the reason people were willing to queue up for the whole day to exchange cash. Thirty-seven per cent are engaged in work ranging from begging to government jobs, earning some income. About 5.90...

-NDTV New Delhi/ Jhansi: It is 8 in the morning and for 60-year-old mason Amir Khan, a migrant from Uttar Pradesh's drought-hit Bundelkhand region, it looks like the day will involve yet another futile wait for work on a South Delhi road - the third such day in succession. Mr Khan is one among thousands from Bundelkhand who work as daily wagers in bigger cities each year, sending back money to help...