-AP The microfinance industry pursued a path of rapid business growth in recent years; two investigations now link it to debtor suicides   First they were stripped of their utensils, furniture, mobile phones, television sets, ration cards and heirloom gold jewellery. Then, some of them drank pesticide. One woman threw herself into a pond. Another jumped into a well with her children. Sometimes, the debt collectors watched nearby. More than 200 poor, debt-ridden residents of...

-The Indian Express The Lokayukta police today filed an FIR against former Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa in connection with an alleged case of cheating in a land allotment scam. A case of cheating and criminal conspiracy has been registered against him in the Karnataka Housing Board (KHB) sites allotment scam, Lokayukta police sources said. FIR was filed against the senior BJP leader under sections 420 (Cheating), 120 (b) (Criminal conspiracy) and...

India moved a step closer to implementing cash Transfers of direct subsidies and social welfare payments after a high-level panel presented the blueprint for effecting it through an Aadhaar-based payment gateway. Accepting the report, which details how all payments and cash Transfers can be made electronically, finance minister Pranab Mukherjee indicated that it will be the key to plug leakages and ensure more targeted spending under the government’s social welfare programmes. The...

-The Business Standard   A Nandan Nilekani-led task force on an Aadhaar-enabled unified payment infrastructure has recommended setting up a network of one million interoperable micro-ATMs across the country. The ATMs will be operated by business correspondents. The task force, headed by the Chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India, submitted its report to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Thursday. The panel has suggested that in order to set-up this network quickly, a last-mile transaction...

The Scheduled Castes and Tribes have been denied over one lakh crore rupees during the Eleventh Plan, says the National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights. Uttar Pradesh has been most efficient in the allocation and utilisation of the funds. During the Eleventh Plan period (2007-12), a whopping Rs 1,00,215 crore has been denied to Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes under the Sub-Plans of the Government, according to National Campaign on Dalit...