-The Hindu Business Line SHGs pave the road to financial independence in UP villages Three years ago, Simrikha Devi’s eightyear-old son made an unusual request. He asked for hundred rupees to buy biscuits,knowing well that his mother, a daily wager, would have to scrounge for the money. Although she was taken aback, Simrikha gave him the money. Her curiosity grew further when he returned with a bag of biscuit packets and began hawking...

-Business Standard Indian economy is showing signs of distress all around and econoMISts are not off the mark in their assessment When Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed the nation on November 8 and announced his government’s big move to tackle black money, currency counterfeiting and terror funding by banning old currency notes of Rs 500 & Rs 1,000, there were murmurs of protest. Since then, econoMISts like Amartya Sen, Kaushik Basu and many...

-The Hindu Industry has expressed concern over the directive New Delhi: The Centre has asked all employers and contractors to ensure that wages are paid to all employees, including casual and contract workers, through cheques or electronic transfers into a bank account. The Chief Labour ComMISsioner, under the Ministry of Labour and Employment, has also asked firms to get bank accounts opened for all those workers who do not have one already, and...

-The Hindu Centre for Politics and Public Policy Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement demonetising high denomination notes on November 8, 2016, will do little to address the prime objective of flushing out black money but will adversely affect the economy in the short term, especially the informal sector, which is predominant in India, says M. Govinda Rao, a Member of the Fourteenth Finance ComMISsion and Emeritus Professor, National Institute of Public...

-Frontline.in To rural India, which is already reeling under multiple crises, demonetisation has come as yet another blow. WHEN the Prime Minister made the decision to withdraw Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 notes, he did not quite factor in the impact it would have on agriculture. Despite the rhetoric the concept of digital wallets has not yet entered rural India unlike in much of the country’s urban areas, and much of rural and...