The RBI’s monetary policy statement for 2012-13 has said that penetration of banks in rural areas has increased. It said that banks are now providing banking services in rural areas through 1,38,502 outlets. This includes 24,085 rural branches, 1,11,948 business correspondent outlets, and 2,469 outlets through other modes. In early March 2010, banks had only 21,475 brick and mortar branches in rural areas. No-frills accounts No-frills accounts have increased to around 99 million with...

Trinamool Congress government’s policies in West Bengal are leading to suicides of small farmers, a reign of terror in the Jangalmahal area and a curbing of academic and trade union rights. Its student activists beat up students and teachers who do not profess loyalty to the party. Will the CPI(M) which led the previous Left Front government for 34 years and paid the price for its insolence and corruption...

The government’s recent actions in notifying the Intermediary Guidelines for the internet with minimal public debate have resulted in the creation of a legal system that raises as many problems as it solves. The regulations as presently notified are arguably unconstitutional, arbitrary and vague and could pose a serious problem to the business of various intermediaries in the country (not to mention hampering internet penetration in the country) and also...

In the absence of legislation to protect women from sexual harassment at the workplace, the Supreme Court in 1997 laid down guidelines in the Vishaka vs State of Rajasthan in 1997. Thirteen years later, Parliament came up with the “Protection of Women against Sexual Harassment at Workplace Bill, 2010”. However, the Bill sees sexual harassment at the workplace not as a criminal offence but as a mere civil wrong, the...

Nobel laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz today said he was aware of the problems industry was facing in acquiring land in Bengal and suggested that government role in facilitating acquisition could help reduce the difficulty. “I talked to some people and they said it’s (land acquisition) a problem here,” said Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia University, during an interaction with journalists. The former chief economist at the World Bank expressed his...