-The Times of India In banding together to form a vigilante group to tackle the menace of alcoholism, the women of Banauli village in Bihar's Rohtas district have once again highlighted women power. The Durga Vahini isn't afraid to use brooms and sticks to set their abusive husbands straight. The group's activities - which have earned it the support of the local administration - are reminiscent of the Gulabi Gang...

-The Telegraph Rural Development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to the Prime Minister for a rethink on a cabinet committee's recent clearances to two mining projects in Jharkhand's Saranda forests. Ramesh has argued that the projects would harm his ministry's Rs 300-crore Development plan for the region, alienate local tribals and weaken the fight to contain the Maoists, a ministry official said. The Prime Minister heads the cabinet committee on infrastructure, which gave...

-The Telegraph Howrah/ Calcutta: Union minister Jairam Ramesh today hit back at Mamata Banerjee for daring the Centre to impose Article 356 in Bengal and termed her government a "circus". "I don't think the Centre is so irresponsible. (It) goes by the Constitution. I don't think Article 356 is applied because a chief minister dares the Centre to do so," the rural Development minister, who had earlier met governor M.K. Narayanan, said...

-The Hindu Vina Mazumdar, doyenne of the Indian women's movement, architect of the epochal Report of the Committee on the Status of Women in India in post independent India, passed away in a central Delhi hospital on May 30 after a brief illness. In the introduction to her memoirs published by Zubaan in 2010, she described herself as a "women's activist", a "feminist,", a "trouble-maker", but the one she liked best was...

-The Telegraph Hyderabad: Thousands of Bastar tribals have fled to neighbouring Andhra Pradesh since Sunday to escape the security forces' combing of areas around the Sukma-Jagdalpur road following Saturday's ambush. Although exact figures are not available yet, Andhra district officials say some 10,000 to 15,000 people - mostly tribals but including some middle-class traders - have entered the Khammam and Warangal districts through Bhadrachalam, Chintoor and Venkatapuram. "This is the worst time for...