-Scroll.in Buyers are cutting back on consumption, traders are losing margins, and farmers are paying their workers in kind. At first glance, it looks like any other day at the mandi in Bettiah. Trucks stand next to the concrete arch that leads into the fruit and vegetable market in this small town in northern Bihar. Inside the mandi samiti, as the precinct is called, hawkers sit with baskets bursting with vegetables. The shops...

-TheCitizen.in NEW DELHI: A bizarre argument is doing the rounds these days. It states that the cash which gets disabled in the “black economy” because of the government’s demonetization measure, would enable the government to undertake an equivalent amount of expenditure with impunity; it can therefore spend more on infrastructure and other essential areas, or simply provide cash transfers to the people. BJP spokespersons who have been putting forward this argument, are...

-The Hindu Delay in monsoon has compounded the problems of farm labourers from Bahour commune Puducherry: The double whammy of demonetisation and delay in monsoon has crippled the rural population of Puducherry as they struggle to make their ends meet. The demonetisation move has brought the construction activity across the rural areas to a standstill, throwing thousands out of jobs and without money. The construction sites in rural areas of Bahour, Villianur, Mannadipet...

-The Hindu They are often detained for carrying their annual savings — Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 — to nearby banks. Kolkata: Deep inside the forested areas of Bastar in south Chhattisgarh, the Gond tribals are confronting a “new problem” besides the usual ones. They are often detained for carrying their annual savings — Rs.5,000 to Rs.6,000 — to nearby banks, which is commonly as far as 50 km from their villages. “We are suspected...

-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,...