-The Telegraph New Delhi: Four years after the Muzaffarnagar riots, a survey by Amnesty International and NGO Afkar India Foundation has found that at least 200 families from some of the worst-hit pockets were left out of the compensation. The then Samajwadi government of Uttar Pradesh had declared that each of the 1,800 displaced families from the nine worst-affected villages would get Rs 5 lakh. Between August 2016 and April 2017, the...

-The Times of India Punjab, the leader of green revolution during the '70s, has become disreputable for farmers' suicides in last two decade or so. Usually, these suicides are attributed to farmers' indebtedness to banks and commission agents. However, it is to be noted that bank credit has played a pivotal role in investment into tubewells, tractors, farm mechanization, horticulture, dairy, poultry and forestry all over India, and especially in Punjab and...

-The Times of India blog Whatever its critics may say, there is one unambiguous achievement of the demonetisation drive. The Reserve Bank of India can surely now claim its rightful place in the Guinness or Limca books for the world record in time spent on a single count of currency notes. But what about the other benefits that the finance ministry claimed after RBI announced the results of this mahayajna of...

-Livemint.com India’s healthcare challenges are daunting but the challenges seem to be most acute in Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state The recent deaths of more than 70 children in less than a week’s span at the BRD Medical College Hospital have focused attention on the deep-seated rot in the hospital, and in Gorakhpur district in general. But far from being an under-performer in terms of health and development outcomes, Gorakhpur...

-The Indian Express The failure of populist rural credit schemes stems primarily from poor understanding of farm indebtedness in the first place. From the 1970s, a lot of private investment in tube-well irrigation, farm mechanisation and allied agricultural activities took place with bank credit support. After the establishment of National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in 1982, institutional credit flows not only accelerated, but also exhibited diversification to fund livestock...