It was inevitable that the commercial model of microfinance in India, with its minimalist and standardised model of lending, would grow into a bubble and run into trouble. Many microfinance commercial organisations have entered the market in search of profits and are competing to lend to the poor.

The institution of the sahukar has been thriving in its modern avatar

Hori, the protagonist in Munshi Premchand

Vidarbha is green again, the rains have finally come, and at least at this point of time, seem to have come to stay their entire term, unlike the previous years when the it simply disappeared after giving us a false hopes of a normal monsoon. Here the article takes a look at the scene as it stands in the month of July with fairly good rains making the region appear like a paradise of green.

To tackle China

Small farmers need credit and other supporting services for diverse activities which comprise a family’s livelihood strategy. Self Help Affinity Groups (SAGs) are the most appropriate institutions which provide the necessary space, resources and skills required by a poor family to develop a livelihood strategy.

Despite many policy measures taken by the central and state governments, the indebtedness of farmers, especially marginal and small cultivators, keeps increasing. Some recent studies on agrarian distress show the significant role of healthcare expenditure in increasing indebtedness. This article presents the result of a study conducted in selected villages of Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts of Punjab in 2008-09 to estimate the level of credit taken for healthcare purposes by marginal and small farmers. It also analyses the present scenario of public health services in rural Punjab.

The spate of farmer suicides in Vidarbha has been callously disregarded. (Editorial)