-Frontline.in Interview with Aruna Roy. ARUNA ROY is a well-known social and political activist. A former Indian Administrative Service officer, she resigned from the IAS in 1975 and has since worked with the most oppressed in society. Aruna Roy’s observation on government service is indicative of her future concerns: “Everyone calls it an elite service; I always felt the discourse should be a bit better than what it was. I was shocked...

-The Hindu Data manipulation in the MGNREGA is leading to gross violations in its implementation Chunni Devi (name changed), an Adivasi woman in her late 20s, lives with her three under-nourished children in Mahuadand, Jharkhand. Her husband died more than a year ago due to the cold conditions in the area. She is yet to get a widow’s pension and Ration under the Antyodaya category. She is sceptical of working under the...

-TheWire.in On January 1, an 80-year-old woman died of starvation. The family slipped through the many government schemes meant to provide relief. Outside her deceased mother’s rented house in Mahuadanr block of Jharkhand’s Latehar district sat Bhagiya Birjain. Bhagiya, a widow, lived in a nearby settlement after her marriage. She was the first to arrive after hearing that her mother, Budhni Birjiyan, 80, died while she was alone, on the night of...

-The Hindu In case of loan in both cooperative and commercial banks, the former qualifies for waiver Bengaluru: The intensive de-duplication work to identity farmers eligible for loan waiver is expected to identify at least 7 lakh people who have loans in both cooperative sector and commercial banks, resulting in saving of at least Rs.6,000 crore to the State exchequer. A farmer will be eligible for loan waiver from one of the...

-Financial Express Farm loan waivers—of more than Rs 850 billion in FY18 and FY19, announced by various state governments—are the flavour of the season. This can affect credit offtake and induce further stress for banks and amount to another agrarian crisis. Farm sector NPAs accounted for 16% of banks’ advances under the priority sector lending in October 2018. Post the early waiver-announcements, credit growth in agriculture and allied activities has been...