open bank accounts

                    Prime Minister Narendra Modi officially launched the program on Thursday,

saying it would give the poor "renewed strength to fight poverty."

                  "When a bank account is opened, it's a step towards joining the economic

mainstream," said Modi, who swept to power in May after an election campaign that

promised an end to corruption, a revival in economic growth and a fairer society.

                  The program may eventually help sideline extortionate money lenders or

unscrupulous banks, some of which are blamed for driving tens of thousands of

impoverished farmers to suicide each year over debts amounting to just a few thousand

dollars.

                  Tens of thousands of people have applied to open accounts since Aug. 15, when

Modi announced the campaign in his Independence Day speech to the nation, bank

managers said.Modi had urged banks in a recent letter to "try your best to ensure that no

one is left without a bank account." The goal is to sign up 150 million people by 2018.

About half of India's 1.2 billion people lack bank accounts."

                 There is an urgency to this exercise, as all other development activities are

hindered by this single disability," Modi's letter said, according to his web site.The four-

year program may also help beat back the endemic corruption affecting almost every level

of Indian bureaucracy, by channeling government welfare and work payments directly into

the accounts of individuals rather than through regional and local offices. more >>