The Canadian penny is no more worth its value. A Canadian Senate committee has urged the government to remove the penny from circulation, saying the cost of producing it exceeds its financial value. “The fact is that the penny is not of much use anymore,” committee chairperson Richard Neufeld said. …
On December 15, the Andhra Pradesh legislative assembly cleared a bill to regulate microfinance institutions (MFIs) in the state. The bill replaces an ordinance issued in October following 54 suicide deaths allegedly due to coercive methods of loan recovery by MFIs (see ‘Death by Default’, Down To Earth, November 30, …
ON DECEMBER 10, Bihar became the first state to scrap local area development funds allotted to its 318 legislators. The decision, taken by Nitish Kumar’s NDA cabinet, aims to end rampant corruption in the state and is a part of the cabinet’s 22 resolutions passed to turn Bihar into a …
A documentary by Danish journalist Tom Heinemann has cast aspersions on Bangladesh’s much feted Grameen Bank. Telecast on Norwegian television on November 30, Caught in Micro-debt showed that Mohammed Yunus, Grameen Bank’s founder diverted developmental aid money from foreign countries meant for Grameen Bank to another company he owned, in …
THE Centre has approved Rs 3,300 crore grants for infrastructural development in 60 Naxalite-affected districts of the country. The scheme Integrated Action Plan for Selected Tribal and Backward Districts was passed on November 26. The scheme will be implemented over the next two years. A government press release said a …
It is now final. Two weeks ago, the final text of the Anti- Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), a plurilateral pact ostensibly aimed at stamping out the trade in counterfeit goods, was put out by the cabal of countries that have been negotiating it in secret for the past three years. …
ON March 9, the country's leading industry captains, attending the first meeting of the Assam Investment Advisory Board in Guwahati, said they were impressed by the emergence of a
Ega Mounika was born into debt, lived in debt and died with debts. The college-going 20-year-old of Warangal’s Karimabad village immolated herself on September 25; three days later, she died. “My daughter wanted to release us from debt,” said her father Laxmi Narayan who sustained burn injuries trying to rescue …
The total demand for micro-credit in the country has been estimated at Rs 50,000 crore. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) estimates that in 256 of India’s 626 districts the credit gap is at least 95 per cent or more. Most mfis are concentrated in these districts, including two of …
There is no doubt US President Barack Obama was in India on a business trip. His recent electoral losses weighed heavily with him when he stitched up deals, reportedly worth US $10 billion, that would create about 50,000 jobs back home. His visit and the sweetener of support for India’s …
Cause for worry for India Share of total employment in agriculture decreased from 63.3 per cent to 55.7 per cent between 1995 and 2008 Share of employment in industry increased marginally from 11.2 per cent to 12.8 per cent between 1995 and 2008 Share of employment in the services sector …
Economists who study poverty are broadly of two types. Those who deal in abstract models, slotting the poor below one poverty line or the other, and those who try to demystify the term “poverty”. Rehman Sobhan belongs to the latter. The title of his latest book, Challenging the Injustice of …
The State Finance Commission, although a technical and quasijudicial constitutional entity like the Union Finance Commission, has to help local governments plan for economic development and deliver social justice and public services at the local level. This article evaluates the history of the performance of SFCs in general and shows …
Considering the role and importance of rational and orderly growth of urban centers, the Government of Punjab intends to streamline the development process in urban settlements to ensure that these settlements continue to achieve their objectives of improved efficiency and productivity. Accordingly, it is desirable to have a stringent check …
An analysis of the Union Budget 2010-11 must take account of the fact that while expenditure on infrastructure is geared primarily towards meeting the long-term development needs of the business community, social welfare expenditure merely serves the purpose of immediate political gains of the parties in power.
If the government is to modernise the census process, the next decennial census to be held in 2011 should make collection of information on the aam admi a priority.
As part of its fire-fighting exercise to rein in inflation, the Government on Thursday talked the country's primary steel producers to a roll-back in the prices of long products by Rs. 2,000 a tonne and galvanised corrugated steel by Rs. 500-1,000 a tonne. Speaking to newspersons after a meeting with …
Punjab National Bank is worried about the recovery of credit extented under the government sponsored schemes in Haryana. These schemes mainly include the PMRY (Prime Minister Rozgar Yozna), SJSRY (Swaran Jyanti Shahri Rozgar Yojna and SGSY (Swaran Jaynti Gram Swa-Rozgar Yozna). According to Chairman and Managing Director K C Chakraborty, …
The government had disbursed maximum agricultural loans through primary cooperatives this year compared to years in the past decade, Finance Minister K. Anbazhagan informed the Assembly on Wednesday. Countering charges from AIADMK deputy leader in the House O. Paneerselvam that the government had not given the cooperatives enough money to …
The Guwahati Management Association (GMA) recently organised a seminar on Assam Budget 2008-09 and Fiscal Responsibility and Financial Management Act, 2005 at Pensioners' Bhawan, Chandmari here. The session was attended by Commissioner Finance, Government of Assam, HS Das, HN Das, former chief secretary, Government of Assam, A Baruah, chairman, Assam …
