Quota for all elected posts in panchayats, mandals, ZPPs Decision by government on the issue to improve representation for women in local bodies Draft amendment to Andhra Pradesh Panchayat Raj Act being scrutinised by the Law Department Chief Minister N. Kiran Kumar Reddy said that there would be 50 per cent reservation for women in the next local body elections in the State. Living up to his promise made during the International Women's Day...

Amidst hue and cry over micro-finance institutions (MFIs) charging the rural poor exorbitant interest rates, Reserve Bank of India norms continue to allow these entities a free hand in determining their charges. The banks lending to MFIs too continue to have full discretion in fixing their rate of interest. RBI has issued a latest master circular reiterating its earlier stand on micro-credit on February 14. Master circulars are like ready-reckoners on...

In a bid to facilitate agriculture and rural development in the backward state, Nabard today launched a Rs 25,019 crore credit plan for Orissa during 2011-12. The credit plan was launched by state Finance Minister Prafulla Ghadai at the state level credit seminar here. While annual credit plan for the state during the current fiscal is Rs 16,915 crore, it was increased by 48 per cent for 2011-12. While agricultural...

Tamil Nadu has become the second largest state after Andhra Pradesh in the self-help group (SHG)-bank linkage programme launched by the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard). In the state, 209,197 SHGs were credit linked with a financial assistance of Rs 2,791.65 crore in 2009-10, taking the cumulative number of SHGs credit linked to 852,791 (including repeat doses) with a bank loan of Rs 9,394.70 crore. Nabard said that a...

Confusion continues to reign in the debate on microfinance that has unfolded following the promulgation of the Andhra ordinance, soon to be replaced by Andhra Pradesh Micro Finance Institutions (Regulation of Money Lending) Act, 2010. A key confusion has been that microfinance is a major instrument of poverty alleviation. Going by the available scientific evidence and agreement among scholars, to-date, there exists no compelling study linking the expansion of microfinance to...