The controversy sparked by suicides and harassment of the rural poor by micro finance institutions has the Self-Employed Women's Association (Sewa) founder and Ramon Magsaysay award winner Ela Bhatt worried. Ahmedabad-based Bhatt, who set up Sewa in 1972 and is considered a pioneer in the field of micro credit in India, called the big boys of the micro finance industry for an informal chat on Monday. However, she is learnt to...

Two people committed suicide Monday in Andhra Pradesh after microfinance companies allegedly harassed them for non-repayment of loans. Opposition parties have urged the government to take action against the firms while a rights panel has asked police to submit the reports on suicides. While an auto driver committed suicide in Warangal district, a woman ended her life in East Godavari district. Another woman attempted suicide by consuming pesticides in Karimnagar district...

Taking a serious note on the suicides due to the purported harassment or embarrassment caused by the collection agents of micro finance Institutions (MFIs), Minister for Rural Development, IKP, Pensions, NREGP and Self-Help Groups, Vatti Vasanth Kumar stated that the government was contemplating making an Act to streamline the operations of MFIs in AP. Talking to media persons in the New Delhi, the minister said that the government would frame rules and...

The amount of rural reportage in the Indian media remains far too low, with even important stories such as those on farmer suicides tending to be ignored. One of the outspoken critics of this trend has been P Sainath, rural-affairs editor of The Hindu  and 2007 winner of the Ramon Magsaysay Award for Journalism, Literature and Creative Communication Arts. He was also the journalist who originally broke the story on...

The Communist Party of India (CPI) state secretary, Dr K. Narayana, has demanded that the government impose ban on micro finance companies (MFCs) to prevent escalation of suicides in villages. Speaking to reporters here on Friday, he alleged that the government-created poverty has been forcing the farmers and various sections of the society to end their lives and the toll will rise if the MFCs are allowed to continue. He alleged...