-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...

-The Times of India BHUBANESWAR: The state government has decided to help farmers to take up construction of pigsty under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). A farmer can construct piggery shelter of 21 square metre at a cost of Rs 50,000 for four pigs under the scheme to be executed by the panchayat samiti. This decision was taken in view of the breakout of Japanese Encephalitis (JE) in Malkangiri...

The term 'development' holds a positive connotation for most policymakers. However, there are examples abound, which indicates that development also cause enormous misery to the people, particularly the poor and the marginalized. Take for instance, the organizing of 2010 Commonwealth Games, due to which massive infrastructural development in the national capital was undertaken when Sheila Dikshit was the Chief Minister of Delhi. It has been estimated that almost 2 lakh...

-The Telegraph Ahmedabad: Tens of thousands of Bengali artisans employed in Gujarat's jewellery-making units are returning home because demonetisation has reduced sales by more than 90 per cent and left them without work and, therefore, pay. About 60,000 of the one lakh-odd Bengali artisans who work in Ahmedabad's big and small gold factories have already left. The situation is similar in Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara and small towns like Kalol and Bhuj, where...

-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...