-Frontline.in To rural India, which is already reeling under multiple crises, demonetisation has come as yet another blow. WHEN the Prime Minister made the decision to withdraw Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes, he did not quite factor in the impact it would have on agriculture. Despite the rhetoric the concept of digital wallets has not yet entered rural India unlike in much of the country’s urban areas, and much of rural and...

-Livemint.com Many urban workers go back to their villages instead of settling in cities with their families, a study shows One of the biggest announcements after Narendra Modi assumed office was the announcement of the smart cities project, which involves overhauling of urban infrastructure in 100 Indian cities. In April, Niti Aayog chairman Arvind Panagariya predicted India’s urbanization rate to increase to over 60% in the next 30 years, assuming a 7-9%...

-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 Economic Times "Demonetisation in a booming economy is like shooting at the tyres of a racing car," says development economist Jean Drèze . A leading advocate of welfare policies, Drèze who was a member of the National Advisory Council during the UPA regime, tells ET that the sudden move to demonetize high-value currency notes has created a scary situation for people who live on the margin of subsistence, and that...

-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...