-PTI Kolkata: West Bengal Chief Minister MAMata Banerjee, who has sought to blame the Centre for the chit fund scam, has claimed that the central government reduced the rate of interest in small savings to drive depositors towards ponzi schemes. "It is because the Centre has reduced the interest rates in small savings in the post office, poor people and those who have retired keep their money in these chit funds with...

-The Business Standard A trail of unfulfilled promises follow her in rural and urban Bengal The furious letter-writing since 2010 about the chit fund industry in West Bengal suggests that everyone knew the industry was going to implode. Bengal has one of the highest rates in small savings, Trinamool Congress (TMC) leader Somen Mitra wrote to the prime minister in 2011. The state buys the highest number of new life insurance policies, and...

-Economic and Political Weekly The Saradha group's collapse has possibly bankrupted lakhs of small investors robbing them of their life svaings, and has rendered thousands of its agents jobless. The scam highlights the failure of the government and its regulatory agencies to reign in the mushrooming chit fund companies in West Bengal. It also brings under the scanner the Trinamool Congress' proximity with the tainted group. In the wake of the...

-The Hindustan Times Demanding a CBI inquiry into Saradha Group financial scam, CPI(M) has accused chief minister MAMata Banerjee's nephew of being involved in Ponzi schemes. "MAMata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee, who is the leader of Trinamool Youth Congress, runs a company which is involved in real estate and micro-finance and has made a huge amount of money in the last two to three years. Its turnover has skyrocketed to 300 crores...

-The Hindu Allahabad: Almost two months have passed since the largest human gathering, the Maha Kumbh Mela, concluded here, registering a MAMmoth 100 million devotees over 55 days. Huge banners and hoardings welcomed visitors to an eco-friendly, ‘Green Kumbh,' spread this time over an extensive 4,000 acres. While the Uttar Pradesh government receives accolades for its management of the mega event - most recently through a presentation invite by Harvard University...