-The Indian Express Three villages, with a combined population of about 5,000, have only one bank and no ATM. Ambala: Chamanlal, 28, a barber in Bara village, does not have a debit card and has never seen a point-of-sale (PoS) machine. He charges Rs 20 for a haircut and Rs 10 for a shave — all in cash. He is among the few in the village who has a smartphone, but has...

-The Hindu Anger and frustration dominate discussions on demonetisation at a jan sunwai in Beawar, Rajasthan About five-six hundred people are crowded in and around a small shamiana-covered triangle, like the apex of the letter A. The two arms of the A are busy streets typical of small-town India, a press of pedestrians and two-wheelers punctuated with foraging cows, goats and impatient cars and tempos. Including the shopkeepers and hangers-on across the...

-NDTV Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh: The cash crunch in the aftermath of the government's ban on Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes is bad enough in metros with block-long queues. But how bad is it in the small towns of India? Deep in eastern Uttar Pradesh, in Vindhyachal and Mirzapur, NDTV did a reality check. And the results were staggering. The journey started at 9 am, outside the ICICI bank ATM in the...

-Hindustan Times Chinsurah, West Bengal: A 163-year-old municipality administering a small town in West Bengal has shown the world how to manage solid waste in an eco-friendly way, potentially giving urban planners and administrators the key to tackling one of the biggest civic problems. The initiatives of Uttarpara-Kotrung municipality helped the Kolkata Solid Waste Management Improvement Project win a global award, defeating nearest contenders Auckland and Milan in urban solid waste management...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Despite Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big push for digital payments and cashless transactions post-demonetisation, government hospitals across the country remain woefully unequipped to translate his lofty visions into reality. Despite various state governments issuing directives to state and municipality-run hospitals to promote digital payments, an overwhelming majority of these are yet to install card swipe Machines. Last week, the Union health secretary held a meeting on the...