-Business Standard Over the past four years, through its twin policies of Jan Dhan Yojana and demonetisation, the govt has taken necessary steps to expand banking services substantially. Mumbai: People’s demand for cash continues to head northwards compared to pre-demonetisation levels despite the frequency of digital transactions going up and a substantial increase in bank deposits since November 2016. Currency with the public (CwP), or people’s demand for cash or currency, is 7...

-The Indian Express Far from reducing opacity in how politics is financed, this new vehicle merely legitimizes it. It is an open secret that political finance in India is, to put it mildly, a sordid affair. When it comes to political contributions, opacity reigns. The situation is not much better when it comes to expenditure, as candidates regularly declare laughably small amounts of campaign spending in order to give the appearance...

-Press note from Right to Food Campaign, Jharkhand   Etwariya Devi, a 67-year-old widow, died of hunger and exhaustion on 25 December in Sonpurwa village of Majhiaon block of Garhwa district (Jharkhand). She lived with her son Ghura Vishwakarma, daughter-in-law Usha Devi and their three children in a dilapidated kutcha house. The family has a hand-to-mouth existence and is routinely unable to access adequate nutrition. Surviving the day on only a meal...

-PTI The study further said digital payment companies have seen a substantial jump in business following the government's push towards cashless transactions after the note-ban last November, and the major contributor to this growth was online payments. Mumbai: The debit and credit card transactions have jumped to Rs 74,090 crore in September this year, up a hefty 84 per cent as compared to the same month last year when it stood...

-Livemint.com The recent decline in the labour force participation rate should be a matter of deep concern for the Indian economy It has been a year since Prime Minister Narendra Modi surprised the country with the demonetisation announcement. Numerous commentators had criticized the move at the time for a variety of reasons, the most prominent among these being: (a) demonetisation was the wrong instrument for the intended objective of eliminating black money...