South-eastern Spain is still battling with the aftermath of one of the deadliest floodings to hit the country in its modern history. At least 219 people were killed in the devastating floods and over 93 people are still listed as missing after over a week.

Spain Recovers From Deadliest Floods in Modern History

At least 16 people have been killed in India and Bangladesh after strong gales and heavy rain triggered by the first major cyclone of the year lashed their coastlines, further cutting power to millions.

Cyclone Remal: Bengal coast bears the brunt of severe cyclone

<p>The death toll in northern China due to heavy rains and floods&nbsp;rose to at least 30 after storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon, slammed the capital Beijing and surrounding regions. This comes after 10 people were killed due to floods in a city near Beijing, officials said Saturday (August 5). Millions of people have been evacuated while officials, in parts of China, continue to struggle to deal with the aftermath of one of the strongest storms in years.</p>

<h2><strong>Death toll and damage</strong></h2>

<p>At least 10 people were killed in Baoding, reported local officials in the town which is about 150 kilometres away from the capital adding that 18 people were missing. Since Doksuri, a former super typhoon,&nbsp;hit mainland China last Friday, it has led to the most severe rains in the region since records began 140 years ago.</p>

<p>As of Saturday, torrential rains continue to batter northeast China and provinces bordering Russia and North Korea. Some cities were in the midst of an ongoing clean-up operation after the overwhelming rainfall which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts.&nbsp;</p>

<p>On Friday, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management reported that natural disasters caused 147 deaths or disappearances due to heavy rains and floods. Additionally, 142 of the deaths or disappearances recorded in July were caused by flooding or geological disasters.</p>

<p>The remaining five deaths or disappearances were due to other natural disasters such as drought, it added. The report also noted the collapse and destruction of more than 2,300 houses has caused direct economic losses amounted to $2.2 billion (15.8 billion yuan).</p>

<h2><strong>‘Red alert’ remains in Beijing, millions evacuated</strong></h2>

<p>A “red alert” which was issued last week, remained in force in Beijing due to “geological risks” such as landslides linked to the bad weather. Meanwhile, around 1.54 million people had been evacuated, on Saturday morning, from at-risk areas in north China’s Hebei province, on Saturday morning, reported Xinhua.&nbsp;</p>

<p>According to state media reports, at least 15,000 residents were moved out of the city of Shulan, where one death and four people were reported missing. Images and videos from Shulan showed collapsed bridges and damaged roads across the city.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Officials, on Saturday, also warned about sinkholes and mudslides in the Fangshan and Mentougou outer districts of the capital. While an official also told the state media that floodwaters in Hebei could take up to a month to recede.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Around 100,000 people were evacuated from Zhuozhou to the southwest of Beijing which is a sixth of its population. In Baoding prefecture, which also includes Zhuozhou, officials have reported the collapse of more than 4,000 houses and damage to nearly 300 bridges with direct economic losses reaching nearly $2.4 billion (17 billion yuan) as of Saturday.</p>

<h2><strong>Climate change and extreme weather events in China</strong></h2>

<p>Notably, China also recorded its highest temperature of more than <a href="https://www.wionews.com/world/china-records-522-celsius-temperature-in-arid-northwest-616575">52 degrees Celsius</a> just last month with millions being affected by extreme weather events across the country.&nbsp;</p>

<p>“China has suffered unprecedented extreme heatwaves since last year...This year, there are record-breaking high temperatures in Northern China,” Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs told AFP.&nbsp;</p>

<p>He added, “These heatwaves are linked to global warming, and this is what most climate scientists around the world tend to agree.”</p>

<p><em>(With inputs from agencies)&nbsp;</em><br />
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The death toll in northern China due to heavy rains and floods rose to at least 30 after storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon, slammed the capital Beijing and surrounding regions.

The death toll in northern China due to heavy rains and floods rose to at least 30 after storm Doksuri, a former super typhoon, slammed the capital Beijing and surrounding regions. This comes after 10 people were killed due to floods in a city near Beijing, officials said Saturday (August 5). Millions of people have been evacuated while officials, in parts of China, continue to struggle to deal with the aftermath of one of the strongest storms in years. Death toll and damage At least 10 people were killed in Baoding, reported local officials in the town which is about 150 kilometres away from the capital adding that 18 people were missing. Since Doksuri, a former super typhoon, hit mainland China last Friday, it has led to the most severe rains in the region since records began 140 years ago. As of Saturday, torrential rains continue to batter northeast China and provinces bordering Russia and North Korea. Some cities were in the midst of an ongoing clean-up operation after the overwhelming rainfall which destroyed infrastructure and flooded entire districts. On Friday, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management reported that natural disasters caused 147 deaths or disappearances due to heavy rains and floods. Additionally, 142 of the deaths or disappearances recorded in July were caused by flooding or geological disasters. The remaining five deaths or disappearances were due to other natural disasters such as drought, it added. The report also noted the collapse and destruction of more than 2,300 houses has caused direct economic losses amounted to $2.2 billion (15.8 billion yuan). ‘Red alert’ remains in Beijing, millions evacuated A “red alert” which was issued last week, remained in force in Beijing due to “geological risks” such as landslides linked to the bad weather. Meanwhile, around 1.54 million people had been evacuated, on Saturday morning, from at-risk areas in north China’s Hebei province, on Saturday morning, reported Xinhua. According to state media reports, at least 15,000 residents were moved out of the city of Shulan, where one death and four people were reported missing. Images and videos from Shulan showed collapsed bridges and damaged roads across the city. Officials, on Saturday, also warned about sinkholes and mudslides in the Fangshan and Mentougou outer districts of the capital. While an official also told the state media that floodwaters in Hebei could take up to a month to recede. Around 100,000 people were evacuated from Zhuozhou to the southwest of Beijing which is a sixth of its population. In Baoding prefecture, which also includes Zhuozhou, officials have reported the collapse of more than 4,000 houses and damage to nearly 300 bridges with direct economic losses reaching nearly $2.4 billion (17 billion yuan) as of Saturday. Climate change and extreme weather events in China Notably, China also recorded its highest temperature of more than 52 degrees Celsius just last month with millions being affected by extreme weather events across the country. “China has suffered unprecedented extreme heatwaves since last year...This year, there are record-breaking high temperatures in Northern China,” Ma Jun, director of the Beijing-based NGO the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs told AFP. He added, “These heatwaves are linked to global warming, and this is what most climate scientists around the world tend to agree.” (With inputs from agencies) WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

Death toll rises to 30 as northern China continues to face storm Doksuri's wrath

<p>As New Zealand continues to reel from the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle which has killed 11 people while authorities are still looking for thousands of others who remain missing a week after what the country’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called the biggest natural disaster this century. Additionally, the officials in Wellington, on Monday (February 20) warned that the total cost of this unprecedented storm will cross $8 billion.&nbsp;</p>

<p>Hipkins has also extended the national state of emergency declared in New Zealand for seven more days for recovery and relief efforts after the cyclone hit the North Island’s northernmost region on February 12 and headed towards the east coast leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. He previously also said that the storm has caused damage “on a scale not seen in New Zealand for at least a generation”.</p>

<p>Meanwhile, the country’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who has also been appointed as the Cyclone Recovery Minister, on Monday, said that the cyclone could cost the government around $8.42 billion (NZ$13.5 billion). Recently, at a press conference, Hipkins announced a $187 million (NZ$300 million) cyclone relief package which would, “reconnect our communities and future-proof our nation's infrastructure” and said that the investment will be “significant and it will require hard decisions”, reported Reuters.</p>

<p>He added, “We won’t shy away from those hard decisions and are working on a suite of measures to support New Zealanders by building back better, building back safer and building back smarter.” The aforementioned relief package would provide NZ$250 million to fix critical roads in the cyclone-hit region while the other NZ$50 million will be used as emergency support for businesses.&nbsp;</p>

<p>The police have also confirmed the death of 11 people in North Island’s Hawke’s Bay while some 2,200 people remain unaccounted for. Speaking to the AM show, on Monday, New Zealand police commissioner Andrew Coster said that the death toll is expected to rise. He also noted the difficulty with communicating and said it is hindering their efforts to make contact with affected people.&nbsp;</p>

<p>In a bid to bridge this gap, the country also has also deployed 60 Elon Musk-owned Starlink satellites while 30 more are on the way, to contact 15,000 residents of the cyclone-hit region as thousands still remain without power. Meanwhile, search and rescue teams continue to work in areas which have been damaged because of Cyclone Gabrielle, reported Reuters.&nbsp;<br />
<br />
&nbsp;</p>

<p><strong>WATCH WION LIVE HERE</strong></p>

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As New Zealand continues to reel from the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle which has killed 11 people while authorities are still looking for thousands of others who remain missing a week after what the country’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called the biggest natural disaster this century.

As New Zealand continues to reel from the devastating aftermath of Cyclone Gabrielle which has killed 11 people while authorities are still looking for thousands of others who remain missing a week after what the country’s Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has called the biggest natural disaster this century. Additionally, the officials in Wellington, on Monday (February 20) warned that the total cost of this unprecedented storm will cross $8 billion. Hipkins has also extended the national state of emergency declared in New Zealand for seven more days for recovery and relief efforts after the cyclone hit the North Island’s northernmost region on February 12 and headed towards the east coast leaving a trail of destruction in its wake. He previously also said that the storm has caused damage “on a scale not seen in New Zealand for at least a generation”. Meanwhile, the country’s Finance Minister Grant Robertson, who has also been appointed as the Cyclone Recovery Minister, on Monday, said that the cyclone could cost the government around $8.42 billion (NZ$13.5 billion). Recently, at a press conference, Hipkins announced a $187 million (NZ$300 million) cyclone relief package which would, “reconnect our communities and future-proof our nation's infrastructure” and said that the investment will be “significant and it will require hard decisions”, reported Reuters. He added, “We won’t shy away from those hard decisions and are working on a suite of measures to support New Zealanders by building back better, building back safer and building back smarter.” The aforementioned relief package would provide NZ$250 million to fix critical roads in the cyclone-hit region while the other NZ$50 million will be used as emergency support for businesses. The police have also confirmed the death of 11 people in North Island’s Hawke’s Bay while some 2,200 people remain unaccounted for. Speaking to the AM show, on Monday, New Zealand police commissioner Andrew Coster said that the death toll is expected to rise. He also noted the difficulty with communicating and said it is hindering their efforts to make contact with affected people. In a bid to bridge this gap, the country also has also deployed 60 Elon Musk-owned Starlink satellites while 30 more are on the way, to contact 15,000 residents of the cyclone-hit region as thousands still remain without power. Meanwhile, search and rescue teams continue to work in areas which have been damaged because of Cyclone Gabrielle, reported Reuters. WATCH WION LIVE HERE You can now write for wionews.com and be a part of the community. Share your stories and opinions with us here.

New Zealand: Cyclone Gabrielle damages could cost over $8 billion; state of emergency extended

Before the Turkiye and Syria disaster, there had been a series of not strong earthquakes in Asia, especially in countries that lie along the seismic zone. The earthquakes and tremors were worryingly becoming frequent, even tremors were felt here in India twice in a span of a month. The world was not paying attention to the frequency of these Earth shakes until Monday 6th of February when the severity of the earthquakes was felt globally. But can the aftermath of what is caused by earthquakes be avoided, and is there something bigger that is hidden in the faultline? WION's Eric Njoka speaks to geologists Namik Cagatay and Chris Elders for a perspective.

Earthquakes, and their disastrous aftermath

In Pics | Aftermath of Philippines plane crash

<p>Ten months after currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 were scrapped on November 8 last year, the ghost of demonetisation continues to haunt Deepak Badavne.</p>

<p>In early November, Badavne had harvested 31 quintals of cotton from his 2.5-acre farm. He expected good returns on it. &ldquo;The trader arranged for the truck and loaded the cotton from my house,&rdquo; he says. But just then, the demonetisation-induced cash crunch hit the farm sector. The payment for Deepak&rsquo;s cotton didn&rsquo;t materialise. &lsquo;The trader is now saying he will pay by Diwali [by mid-October 2017],&rdquo; he says.</p>

<p>The trader owes Badavne Rs. 178,483 for his cotton yield. A cheque he received for this amount on March 24 bounced&ndash; thrice. &nbsp;&ldquo;I am not the only one,&rdquo; says Deepak, 31, sitting under a tree in Karajgaon village on the outskirts of Aurangabad city in Marathwada, Maharashtra. &ldquo;There are others in my village who have been similarly duped.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Badavne, who lives in a joint family and has two children, has gathered some of them in this village of 1,300 people &ndash; people who are also waiting for their dues or have received cheques that bounced. In April, nearly six months after the demonetisation, Deepak&rsquo;s brother Jeetendra, 38, got a nearly two lakh rupees for 34 quintals of cotton. That too bounced. &ldquo;What am I supposed to do with this if I cannot have cash in hand?&rdquo; he asks. &ldquo;I need cash to buy inputs for the cropping season [that started in mid-June].&rdquo;</p>

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<p>Deepak Badavne holds up the cheque he received in return for his cotton &ndash; it bounced three times (Others)</p>
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<p>On the morning of our visit in June, the trader in question had left the village to avoid reporters. So he was unavailable to give his version of the events, and is therefore not named in this story.</p>

<p>When the angry group barged into his house, his mother threatened that they would be responsible if her son committed suicide. &ldquo;The trader said the cash crunch was responsible for the delays in payment,&rdquo; says Deepak, &ldquo;but the sowing season does not wait for us. We have filed an FIR [at the Karmad police station, around four kilometres away, on charges of cheating].&rdquo;</p>

<p>In Hasanabadwadi village on the Aurangabad-Jalna highway, Atul Antarai, 28, was also struggling in June, months after the demonetisation. He has 1,000 mosambi trees on five acres. &ldquo;I have a private well and borewell,&rdquo; he says, &ldquo;so I manage to water the orchard better than many farmers cultivating mosambi around me.&rdquo;</p>

<p>In the first week of November, a trader had approached Antarai and offered him Rs. 6.5 lakhs for the entire produce. &ldquo;I had planned on harvesting around February,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;And going by the rate of Rs. 30-35 per kilo, I expected to make Rs. 10 lakhs from the crop. I told the trader I would get back to him.&rdquo;</p>

<p>On November 8, however, after the government&rsquo;s &lsquo;notebandi&rsquo; order, the same trader did not have the cash anymore, and rates plummeted. &ldquo;I eventually got Rs. 1.25 lakh for the entire yield,&rdquo; says Atul. &ldquo;Where I had expected Rs. 30&ndash;35 a kilo, I ended up selling the fruit at Rs. 3 a kilo.&rdquo;</p>

<p><strong>Watch video</strong>: &lsquo;<em>I got 3 rupees a kilo instead of 30-35 for my </em><em>mosambi</em><em>&rsquo; after the demonetisation last November, says Atul Antarai of Hasanabadwadi village</em></p>

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<p>Every year, the transactions for crops in Marathwada are made in cash. Relatively larger amounts than those for food crops get exchanged for cotton and mosambi &ndash; so after the demonetisation, when cash was in short supply, the impact on cotton and mosambi farmers was especially severe. November is when Marathwada&rsquo;s farmers harvest cotton, and it&rsquo;s just a few months before the year&rsquo;s first mosambi harvest of February-March (the second one is usually in August-September).</p>

<p>The rates plummeted and traders did not have cash to buy stock from farmers. The cashless future that demonetisation promised never came, and many in rural Marathwada scoff at the idea. &ldquo;ATMs are concentrated in cities,&rdquo; says Ashok Yedhe, a farmer in Anjanvati village of Beed district, who cultivates soyabean and jowar. &ldquo;Just to get to a bank or an ATM takes kilometres of travel for us.&rdquo;</p>

<p>ATMs in rural areas are few and far between. &nbsp;Of the 222,762 ATMs in the entire country, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data (till June 2017) only 40,997 are in rural centres &ndash; this means less than 20 per cent of the ATMs in India are available for the 69 per cent of the population that is classified as rural (by Census 2011).</p>

<p>Devidas Tuljapurkar, joint secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, points out that it is also important to note the run time of ATMs. &quot;In cities, the cash is replenished almost every day,&quot; he says. &quot;That is not the case in rural areas, where the run time of ATMs is about 20 per cent what it is in cities.&quot; &nbsp;</p>

<p>Besides, Yedhe points out, online transactions cost more, and a farmer cannot afford to pay extra money for every such transaction. In any case, he explains, cash is central to any transaction in a rural economy. &ldquo;We cannot Paytm 250 rupees to an agriculture labourer,&rdquo; he laughs. &ldquo;Most of the time, a farmer gets cash and uses it immediately to buy inputs or rations or fodder. The entire trade chain in rural India is cash-based.&rdquo;</p>

<p>To add to the cash crunch after November 2016, banks in rural areas were the last to get the new currency notes. For months, the RBI did not even accept the old notes deposited with the district cooperative banks, where most farmers have their accounts. Hanumant Jadhav, managing director of the Latur District Cooperative Bank, says, &ldquo;For 7-8 months we continued to struggle when district banks were not remonetised and all our ATMs were dry.&rdquo;</p>

<p><i><strong>Watch video</strong>:&nbsp;</i><i>&#39;</i><i>A farmer can&#39;t go cashless&#39;, insists Deepak Badavne of Karajgaon village</i></p>

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<p>In Karajgaon too, farmers say the push towards a cashless economy is city-centric, ignoring the majority living in the villages. &ldquo;We usually use cash the same day we get it from any source,&rdquo; says Deepak. &ldquo;If we start going to the bank to withdraw cash for each transaction, can you imagine the amount of money and time we would be spending? Cashless sounds fine in Mumbai and Delhi, but it is a farce in rural India.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Deepak has been unable to repay the 2016-17 agricultural season&rsquo;s bank loan. &ldquo;I owe the Bank of Maharashtra in Karmad Rs. 1.5 lakhs,&rdquo; he says. &ldquo;I have been repaying every year, so I am eligible for a new crop loan. But this year, I have been a defaulter.&rdquo;</p>

<p>Deepak has now borrowed Rs. 240,000 from a private moneylender at 3 per cent interest per month. He already has a debt of Rs. 2 lakhs from a private moneylender. He has used the new loan for the ongoing kharif season and repaid a part of his bank loan. But he remains worried. &ldquo;The harvest does not look promising this year due to intermittent rainfall,&rdquo; he says.</p>

<p>And in Hasanabadwadi village, Atul is wondering if he will have to phase out his mosambi orchard. &ldquo;The well has run dry. Rainfall has not been great. The harvest [the year&rsquo;s second, of August-September] could be mediocre. And because I lost a lot of money after demonetisation, it is difficult to purchase water to keep the plants alive.&quot;</p>

<p>This&nbsp;<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/the-ghost-of-demonetisation" rel="nofollow" target="blank">article</a>&nbsp;was originally&nbsp;published on 15/ 09/ 2017 on the&nbsp;<a href="https://ruralindiaonline.org/" rel="nofollow" target="blank">People&#39;s Archive of Rural India.</a></p>

<p>Photos Credit:&nbsp;Shrirang Swarge</p>


In rural Marathwada, where the agrarian trade chain is cash-based, farmers are still reeling from the effects of the November 2016 demonetisation ? with bounced cheques, poor access to banks, and falling crop prices

Ten months after currency notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 were scrapped on November 8 last year, the ghost of demonetisation continues to haunt Deepak Badavne. In early November, Badavne had harvested 31 quintals of cotton from his 2.5-acre farm. He expected good returns on it. “The trader arranged for the truck and loaded the cotton from my house,” he says. But just then, the demonetisation-induced cash crunch hit the farm sector. The payment for Deepak’s cotton didn’t materialise. ‘The trader is now saying he will pay by Diwali [by mid-October 2017],” he says. The trader owes Badavne Rs. 178,483 for his cotton yield. A cheque he received for this amount on March 24 bounced– thrice. “I am not the only one,” says Deepak, 31, sitting under a tree in Karajgaon village on the outskirts of Aurangabad city in Marathwada, Maharashtra. “There are others in my village who have been similarly duped.” Badavne, who lives in a joint family and has two children, has gathered some of them in this village of 1,300 people – people who are also waiting for their dues or have received cheques that bounced. In April, nearly six months after the demonetisation, Deepak’s brother Jeetendra, 38, got a nearly two lakh rupees for 34 quintals of cotton. That too bounced. “What am I supposed to do with this if I cannot have cash in hand?” he asks. “I need cash to buy inputs for the cropping season [that started in mid-June].” Deepak Badavne holds up the cheque he received in return for his cotton – it bounced three times (Others) × On the morning of our visit in June, the trader in question had left the village to avoid reporters. So he was unavailable to give his version of the events, and is therefore not named in this story. When the angry group barged into his house, his mother threatened that they would be responsible if her son committed suicide. “The trader said the cash crunch was responsible for the delays in payment,” says Deepak, “but the sowing season does not wait for us. We have filed an FIR [at the Karmad police station, around four kilometres away, on charges of cheating].” In Hasanabadwadi village on the Aurangabad-Jalna highway, Atul Antarai, 28, was also struggling in June, months after the demonetisation. He has 1,000 mosambi trees on five acres. “I have a private well and borewell,” he says, “so I manage to water the orchard better than many farmers cultivating mosambi around me.” In the first week of November, a trader had approached Antarai and offered him Rs. 6.5 lakhs for the entire produce. “I had planned on harvesting around February,” he says. “And going by the rate of Rs. 30-35 per kilo, I expected to make Rs. 10 lakhs from the crop. I told the trader I would get back to him.” On November 8, however, after the government’s ‘notebandi’ order, the same trader did not have the cash anymore, and rates plummeted. “I eventually got Rs. 1.25 lakh for the entire yield,” says Atul. “Where I had expected Rs. 30–35 a kilo, I ended up selling the fruit at Rs. 3 a kilo.” Watch video: ‘I got 3 rupees a kilo instead of 30-35 for my mosambi’ after the demonetisation last November, says Atul Antarai of Hasanabadwadi village × Every year, the transactions for crops in Marathwada are made in cash. Relatively larger amounts than those for food crops get exchanged for cotton and mosambi – so after the demonetisation, when cash was in short supply, the impact on cotton and mosambi farmers was especially severe. November is when Marathwada’s farmers harvest cotton, and it’s just a few months before the year’s first mosambi harvest of February-March (the second one is usually in August-September). The rates plummeted and traders did not have cash to buy stock from farmers. The cashless future that demonetisation promised never came, and many in rural Marathwada scoff at the idea. “ATMs are concentrated in cities,” says Ashok Yedhe, a farmer in Anjanvati village of Beed district, who cultivates soyabean and jowar. “Just to get to a bank or an ATM takes kilometres of travel for us.” ATMs in rural areas are few and far between. Of the 222,762 ATMs in the entire country, according to Reserve Bank of India (RBI) data (till June 2017) only 40,997 are in rural centres – this means less than 20 per cent of the ATMs in India are available for the 69 per cent of the population that is classified as rural (by Census 2011). Devidas Tuljapurkar, joint secretary of the All India Bank Employees Association, points out that it is also important to note the run time of ATMs. "In cities, the cash is replenished almost every day," he says. "That is not the case in rural areas, where the run time of ATMs is about 20 per cent what it is in cities." Besides, Yedhe points out, online transactions cost more, and a farmer cannot afford to pay extra money for every such transaction. In any case, he explains, cash is central to any transaction in a rural economy. “We cannot Paytm 250 rupees to an agriculture labourer,” he laughs. “Most of the time, a farmer gets cash and uses it immediately to buy inputs or rations or fodder. The entire trade chain in rural India is cash-based.” To add to the cash crunch after November 2016, banks in rural areas were the last to get the new currency notes. For months, the RBI did not even accept the old notes deposited with the district cooperative banks, where most farmers have their accounts. Hanumant Jadhav, managing director of the Latur District Cooperative Bank, says, “For 7-8 months we continued to struggle when district banks were not remonetised and all our ATMs were dry.” Watch video: 'A farmer can't go cashless', insists Deepak Badavne of Karajgaon village × In Karajgaon too, farmers say the push towards a cashless economy is city-centric, ignoring the majority living in the villages. “We usually use cash the same day we get it from any source,” says Deepak. “If we start going to the bank to withdraw cash for each transaction, can you imagine the amount of money and time we would be spending? Cashless sounds fine in Mumbai and Delhi, but it is a farce in rural India.” Deepak has been unable to repay the 2016-17 agricultural season’s bank loan. “I owe the Bank of Maharashtra in Karmad Rs. 1.5 lakhs,” he says. “I have been repaying every year, so I am eligible for a new crop loan. But this year, I have been a defaulter.” Deepak has now borrowed Rs. 240,000 from a private moneylender at 3 per cent interest per month. He already has a debt of Rs. 2 lakhs from a private moneylender. He has used the new loan for the ongoing kharif season and repaid a part of his bank loan. But he remains worried. “The harvest does not look promising this year due to intermittent rainfall,” he says. And in Hasanabadwadi village, Atul is wondering if he will have to phase out his mosambi orchard. “The well has run dry. Rainfall has not been great. The harvest [the year’s second, of August-September] could be mediocre. And because I lost a lot of money after demonetisation, it is difficult to purchase water to keep the plants alive." This article was originally published on 15/ 09/ 2017 on the People's Archive of Rural India. Photos Credit: Shrirang Swarge

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