Complaints have reached the Ministry of Minority Affairs (MMA) that as in Andhra Pradesh, in Bihar too, banks have refused to allow tens of thousands of Muslim students to open scholarship accounts. On July 28, the MMA wrote to all State Chief Secretaries directing them to facilitate the opening of “no frills, nil balance” accounts by minority students. This followed feedback that in Andhra Pradesh banks had turned away as many...

One of the most intriguing features of India's agrarian economy in recent years is the persistence of agrarian distress in many regions, even while agricultural credit flow has risen sharply. Rising flow of credit to agriculture is normally associated with buoyancy in the farm sector. A closer look at the data on agricultural credit reveals that what is termed agricultural credit may have very little to do with agriculture, the...

Does the government really have any clue about how to go about controlling prices? A quick survey of statements made by everybody from the prime minister downwards shows a picture of groping in the dark, while handing out empty assurances from time to time. What is worse, it's all smoke and mirrors for the public. Coming as it does from a government that is loaded with top-notch economists, it is...

Hopes of an early respite from mounting price pressures have been belied by inflation numbers released on Wednesday. The wholesale price index for June 2010 is up 10.55% against a rise of 10.16% in May. Worse, the number for April has been revised up from 9.59% to a 19-month high of 11.23%. If the same order of revision continues , the June number could well cross 12%, a dangerously high...

Earlier this week, India's opposition parties came together in a rare show of unity to take to the streets in cities across the country. They protested against the government's recent decision to raise fuel prices after it scrapped its subsidy of petrol prices in an effort to cut the budget deficit. Supporters of the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party joined hands with their ideological rivals among the Communists to paralyse normal life in...