Articles by: P. Sainath

With the note-ban crippling money orders, migrant workers in Maharashtra are unable to send cash home to hungry families. In Adul, Aurangabad, labourers from five states are struggling with a bank system they don't understand and which doesn’t work for them - Photo/P. Sainath

BPL XI: They’re Mobile, Their Money Isn’t

“This new account you will open for me here,” a terribly worried Dheeraj Rehuwamansoor asks the friendly bank manager, “can I operate it from elsewhere in the country?” Well, says  Sanjay Ashturkar smiling, “I will give you an ATM card and you can use that in your own state and town, wherever there is an ATM.” “Of what use is[Read More…]

by 23/12/2016 2 comments India
A farmer in Nagur holds up an extract of his loan account from the credit cooperative society; further interest of 2-4 per cent gets added at the level of the societies

Bank ‘Gandhigiri’, Cashless hara-kiri In Marathwada

The bank has “decided to use Gandhigiri to try and recover the loans [from you].  For this the bank has decided to do one of the following: 1) Put up a tent opposite your house to protest, 2) Make use of a band, 3) ring bells. “Due to these actions, your standing and image in society are likely to be in danger.”[Read More…]

by 13/12/2016 3 comments India
The Cashless Economy Of Chikalthana

The Cashless Economy Of Chikalthana

In Chikalthana village, on the edge of and merging with Aurangabad town in Maharashtra, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream of a cashless economy seems to have been realised. Nobody has any cash. Not the banks, nor the ATMs and certainly not the people queuing up in and around them in despair. Even the policemen sitting in the vans outside bank[Read More…]

by 20/11/2016 1 comment India