-TheNewsMinute.com There have been cases of people saying that their KYC details, which were shared with the Chinese loan apps, were used to open bank and crypto exchange accounts in their names, without consent. Shonali*, a 48-year-old lecturer from West Bengal was laid off from a private university in March 2020. The lecturer, facing financial stress, turned to Chinese-owned instant loan applications that provide microloans without collateral, but at high-interest rates. Shonali...

-The Hindu Business Line A model rehabilitation project for 100 families of rescued bonded labourers kicks off in Tiruvannamalai, granting them dignity of shelter and livelihood * Ready to be inaugurated in the next few weeks, the neat rows of green and white houses... carry the smell of fresh paint and brimming hope of its 564 residents * The colony is the Tamil Nadu government’s attempt at creating a model rehabilitation village that...

-The Tribune Instead of leaving the farmers to face the vagaries of markets, which have pushed them globally into a debt trap, the demand for ensuring that no trading takes place below the MSP not only provides farmers with a safety net but it will also gradually become an economic design for the rest of the world to emulate. Across the globe, farmers are suffering the consequences of keeping farm-gate prices...

-Livemint.com The government will have to ensure its spending improves economy-wide productivity, and its own revenue-generating capacity, to avoid a stagflationary trap After dithering on a fiscal stimulus package for nearly a year, India’s finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman has declared that she will not allow the fiscal deficit number to worry her too much as she pushes spending to revive growth in the upcoming budget. The government hopes that growth will generate higher...

-TheWire.in Researchers have found that small and marginal farmers and Dalit landless labourers are worst affected by the region's agrarian distress. Sangrur/Patiala (Punjab): In the villages of Punjab, strike a conversation on farming  expenses with anyone, and they will say, “Karja tan hai hi (Of course, we have taken loans).” It’s these loans – from both institutional and non-institutional sources – that largely help the rural economy run in the state. But...