-Rediff.com Fairs are commonplace in the festive season but in tribal West Midnapore, which falls in the erstwhile Maoist-hit Jangalmahal area, it is child marriage fairs which are drawing large crowds. Such tribal child marriage fairs are held each year during this festive season. With the decline in Maoist violence, more tribals are fearlessly participating in the fairs being held this year, according to a report by women rights Non-Governmental Organisation 'Suchetna',...

-The Telegraph Chhatrapur: Villagers in Gopalpur are thanking their lucky stars for having escaped what could have been their worst nightmare. The port town - where the eye of cyclonic storm Phailin touched Odisha coast but not with as much intensity as had been anticipated - is yet to get a cyclone shelter. People of the coastal Nua Buxipalli village near Gopalpur said the foundation stone for the cyclone shelter there was...

-PTI LONDON: An Indian climate change activist who works with local communities and governments for environmental change has been awarded the Commonwealth youth award. Priti Rajagopalan, 23, received a 5,000-pound grant towards her work at a ceremony held at the Commonwealth secretariat headquarters in London, the Commonwealth said on October 19. "This award inspires me to move forward and to take a lot more people with me, with the same spirit, into the...

-The Hindustan Times Nilesh Singit, 43, completed his Master's degree in Literature from Mumbai university in 1993 and a course in information technology soon after, and thought he was ready for the job market. Responses from the initial telephonic interviews too sounded positive. Then he went for the face-to-face rounds. A cerebral palsy survivor, Singit was rejected by one company after another - for four years. Dejected, he decided to turn entrepreneur....

-The Indian Express Gurgaon: Trucks loaded with new elementary school textbooks were seen parked outside many government primary schools in Gurgaon, a little over two weeks ago - at a time when first half of the academic year is over. The reason, district school authorities said, was a problem with the tender given to a state "printing press" which delayed printing of the books. By the end of the first term, children...