-Hindustan Times New Delhi: When seven days of standing in long queues outside banks yielded no results, a 35-year-old scrap dealer allegedly committed suicide by hanging from a ceiling fan at his house in northeast Delhi’s Mustafabad on Thursday night. Mohammed Shakeel was reportedly frustrated because he couldn’t exchange old notes worth Rs 5,000. He had to pay instalments of two loans as well. Shakeel’s family said he went to banks early morning,...

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 Hindu KC Chakrabarty, who was deputy governor of Reserve Bank of India (RBI) between June 2009 and March 2014, said that there was no economic rationale behind the ongoing demonetisation drive and that such a proposal had been floated in the past too. Excerpts from a conversation: * What is your view on the ongoing demonetisation exercise? It has no economic rationale. It does not serve any purpose. * Why do you say...

-The Indian Express Unorganised sector is worst-affected by demonetisation. Can banks go to them? An incident in 2000, during my initial years of work, woke me up to an uncomfortable question about post-economic liberalisation India. I was at a meeting with waste-pickers at Digha in Patna and a woman told me of her troubles with a Rs 500 note. She had saved money and changed it into a Rs 500 note, wrapped...

-The Hindu The only way out for public policy for environmental damage is to place strong emphasis on individual and social cost of inaction Residents in the already polluted Capital experienced something of a turning point on Diwali. The belaboured, particulate-loaded air was further bombed with firecrackers. Some described the scene as a war zone with active shelling. People were angry not only because they could not physically breathe, but also because...