India’s rapidly growing private microcredit industry faces imminent collapse as almost all borrowers in one of India’s largest states have stopped repaying their loans, egged on by politicians who accuse the industry of earning outsize profits on the backs of the poor. The crisis has been building for weeks, but has now reached a critical stage. Indian banks, which put up about 80 percent of the money that the companies...
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Understanding the Puzzling Nature of Poverty by Akash Kapur
Rahul Gandhi, the general secretary of India’s Congress party, often says that there exist “two Indias” — one of the rich, and one of the poor. Those two Indias were in evidence a couple of weeks ago, when closely timed events on opposite sides of the planet brought into relief the deep divides that in many ways define this country. In Mumbai on Nov. 7, President Barack Obama told a group of...
More »Atrocities by Maoists on women go unreported: study by Raktima Bose
That women and children are the worst sufferers during any armed conflict has been proved again by a recent study conducted by the West Bengal Women's Commission (WBWC) on women victims of Maoist violence in the State's Jangal Mahal region. It was found that the atrocities often go unreported and unaccounted, or are misrepresented by a section of society. Based on the study, the WBWC appealed to the Maoists to abjure...
More »In Gujarat, e-literate paanwala googles NREGS, stumbles on Rs 1-crore scam
A newly e-literate village paanwala's obsession with Google has blown the lid off a unique NREGS scam in Porbandar. The motley bunch of beneficiaries include affluent NRIs, doctors, government officials, teachers and well-off farmers — all shown as unemployed village labourers holding NREGS job cards. So far, the money siphoned off comes to nearly Rs 1 crore. On paper, there are 963 NREGS job cardholders at Kotda village in Kutiyana taluka...
More »Govt orders inquiry into NREGA scam in Gujarat
The government today ordered an inquiry into the alleged irregularities in wage payments under NREGA in Kotda village in Gujarat's Kotiyana district. Rural Development Minister C P Joshi asked the National Level Monitor (NLM) to examine the alleged misappropriation of funds related to NREGA wage payments in Kotda village and submit a report by November 30. The direction came following media reports about an e-literate panwala in the village stumbling upon a...
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