-The Business Standard Expenses such as employment guarantees and loan waivers are, in effect, subsidies that are classified differently in government accounts Over the last few years, the government announced many policy initiatives that purportedly help the weaker sections of our society. Schemes initiated under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) or the distribution of free and affordable food items under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) are examples...

-Outlook Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today said two years form now no Gram Panchayat would be there in the state without banking service and welcomed all nationalised banks to come forward and open branches in the villages to boost rural economy. Launching 50 branches and 20 ATMs of the United Bank of India (UBI) at a function at the state Secretariat, Banerjee said out of 32,090 Gram Panchayats in...

-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...

-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...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA: West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee's plan to start a savings scheme with the aim of protecting the poor from losing their money to deposit schemes that promise high returns will be going ahead with the Reserve Bank of India having cleared the participation of state-run banks in the programme. The state government is to launch the plan on November 6. State-run West Bengal Infrastructure Development Finance Corporation...