-TheWire.in Jayalalithaa’s schemes – such as her canteens and baby care kits – may appear to be populist at first glance, but are actually quite entrenched in a welfare tradition. For development economists, Tamil Nadu offers many lessons in social democracy. The state has distinguished itself with visionary schemes – such as noon meals (known as the mid-day meal scheme nationally) and the Dr Muthulakshmi Reddy Maternity Benefits Scheme, which provides Rs...

-The Indian Express Credit, payment in old notes from grain commission agents ensures normal rabi planting operations. Jalandhar: Punjab farmers have so far got only about Rs 19,350 crore, out of the Rs 24,915 crore that was due for the 16.50 million tonnes paddy they had supplied to government agencies in the recent kharif procurement season at the minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 1,510 per quintal. But even with pending payments of...

-The Hindu The government has declared an incentive package to encourage non-cash payments for fuel, new insurance policies from public sector firms, train tickets and highway toll, among other things. For Credit and debit card transactions up to Rs.2,000, the Reserve Bank of India has relaxed its stringent two-factor authentication requirement, and service tax stands waived. Taken together, these moves to encourage cashless payments are significant not just because they can...

-Business Standard The year-on-year growth in Credit was just 6.6%, down from 9.3% a year ago Mumbai: Showing effect of demonetisation, bank Credit in India shrunk by Rs 61, 000 crore (0.8% in fifteen days ended November 25, 2016) on the demand destruction. In contrast, banks are trying to cope with the huge inflow of money as people deposited Rs 4,03,000 crore during the same period. The outstanding Credit of banking system in...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: The Narendra Modi government has started to fumble for explanations, with the original raison d'etre for the demonetisation drive coming under strain because of the high volume of cash deposits that have poured into bank accounts. Almost 80 per cent of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were demonetised on November 9 has come straight back into the banking system, prompting the government to change the...