-Centre for Science and Environment * Releases new report that presents irrefutable evidence of the benefits of non-chemical agriculture * Yesterday’s Budget promises to promote chemical-free natural farming, but it is a half-hearted promise at best, as no separate allocation has been made in it, says CSE * CSE’s asks: Invest in organic and natural farming. Make it a mass movement New Delhi, February 2, 2022: “Despite the push given to it through periodic...

-TheWire.in Much was expected from the Union Budget 2022 which has come at a time when the Indian economy is facing an economic turmoil due to the coronavirus pandemic and battling widespread unemployment and inflation. High hopes were pinned on this year’s budget as the country saw young people protesting for Railway jobs, farmers protesting for the government to address their loss of incomes, micro-sector producers as they faced closures and PSU...

-The Hindu Business Line From easing access to credit to leveraging the PLI scheme, MSMEs can tap into a range of policy initiatives In November 2021 the government announced the Special Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme for the MSMEs (Micro Small and Medium Enterprises) in the services sector. The scheme has a provision of 25 per cent capital subsidy for procurement of service equipment through institutional credit to the SMEs for advancement...

-The Hindu The RBI deputy governor reminded the industry that their customers often have lower level of financial awareness and literacy and ‘are often too desperate to turn away any source of credit’. Micro-finance lenders must refrain from chasing profits and introspect on the ‘negative consequences’ of pushing their borrowers into a debt trap, using harsh recovery practices and harassing customers as this could undo the sector’s progress, a top central banker...

-Frontline.thehindu.com The RBI’s proposal to loosen regulations for private lenders in the microfinance space will have disastrous consequences for the poor, especially women in rural areas. Microfinance, a category of financial services aimed at serving people from low-income households who lack access to conventional banking credit and services, was originally designed by international finance capital institutions such as the World Bank as an alternative to providing direct concessional credit to the poor—which...