-TheCitizen.in NEW DELHI: Perhaps no other public policy debate in post-independence India has seen as much of an “inversion of reason” on the part of the government as the demonetization debate. When critics were pointing, on the basis of government statistics themselves, to the palpable failure of the demonetization measure to achieve its purported objective, which was to cripple the black economy, the government kept harping, in its justification, on the extraordinary...

-The Hindu Surakhpur, declared ‘fully digital payment enabled’ by government, rues low literacy, poor connectivity Around 10 days ago, a team of Delhi government officials handed over two PoS (point of sale) machines to kirana (Grocery) store owners Surat Singh and Ramesh Kumar, both residents of Surakhpur village in Najafgarh, on the Delhi-Haryana border. The officials taught the two how to use the machines. On Wednesday, when The Hindu visited the village, where...

-PTI BUNDI: Cash-starved farmers in Bundi villages - where ATM and bank branches are hard to find - have resorted to the ancient barter system, exchanging wheat and pulses with other commodities. For farmers in the villages it is literally a return to the old days. Wheat is currently being sold for Rs. 21 to 24 per kg but the locals in villages are forced to purchase commodities weighing equal to wheat thus...

-The Hindu Stories of distress, following a year of drought and now demonetisation, reverberate through State BENGALURU: First, the water in their fields disappeared, and now, the cash in the market. For Rajaiah of Boovanahalli in Hassan district, the cash crunch following demonetisation has seen his yet-to-be harvested maize shrouded in uncertainty. “There are no merchants to purchase as they have no cash,” he said. There is desperation, however, as his entire produce...

-The Hindu With little cash in hand, small traders and shopkeepers are unable to keep their businesses running Surendar’s move from Bihar to Perambalur in the heart of Tamil Nadu in search of a livelihood has turned sour over the past few days. A school dropout, Surendar, who made a living selling pani-poori from a cart in this town, has seen his business plummet since the November 8 demonetisation announcement. “Everyone brings...