-The Times of India   Maharashtra reported the highest number of domestic violence cases in 2010-11 of which economic abuse was the most rampant, followed by the southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, a study has found. While Andhra reported higher number of physical abuse cases, Karnataka was evenly placed in cases of economic and physical abuse.  Maharashtra reported 2,433 cases followed by Andhra with 1,174 cases and Karnataka with 1,013 cases....

-PTI   Planting of trees by families on birth of a girl child, the theme of Bihar's tableau in this year's Republic Day parade, has worked wonders for a village in Bhagalpur by improving the environment and providing financial security to girls.  The tradition in Dharhara village, about 40 km from here, was popularised by Chief Minister Nitish Kumar who was so impressed by it that he decided to launch a welfare scheme...

-The Hindu   ‘The 50 per cent limit on reservation set by the Supreme Court should be challenged' Scholar of the Dalit movement Gail Omvedt supported reservation for minorities, but said the allocation should not be carved out of the existing quota for Other Backward Classes (OBCs), but added to it by increasing the percentage of reservation. Addressing a large gathering of people attending the 10th anniversary of the Bahujan Vidyarthi Sangha (BVS), Ms....

School girls in bright red uniforms troop down the slope in groups of threes and fours in Koppa, the fertile sugarcane town in southern Karnataka’s agricultural district of Mandya. A teenage boy on a motorcycle does the dim-and-dip with his headlights, the equivalent of a wink, as he passes the girls on his way up the slope in what seems to be a strut on a motorcycle. “Television and mobile phones...

We have elections coming up in five states, notably giant -- thus politically crucial -- Uttar Pradesh. We have an Indian cricket team seemingly determined to eat crow. We have yet another brouhaha over Salman Rushdie. But my electricity bill is in front of me, so I want to talk about food -- and those who prepare food. What, you may well wonder, is the connection between the two? The bill is made...