-The Indian Express Kolkata: The humble potato comes a poor second to pricey onion in State matters. But that was before Mamata Banerjee wielded the knife. Over the past couple of days, the West Bengal Police, directed by the Chief Minister, has seized thousands of trucks carrying potatoes to neighbouring states such as Orissa, jharkhand and Bihar. Mamata's provocation was the rise in the price of the vegetable back home. However, while...

-The Hindu A unique cell phone-based networking system in Chhattisgarh helps Adivasi Gonds share local news and air grievances. Deep in the jungles of Chhattisgarh, a straightforward, earthy man named Naresh Bunkar, field co-ordinator of the Adivasi Santha Manch, picks up his mobile phone and dials +918050068000, a long-distance number in Bangalore. He immediately cuts off and waits. Within seconds, he gets a call from the dialled number, and he hears a...

-The Economic Times NEW DELHI: Maharashtra has the highest per capita income, but when it comes to prosperity, Punjab tops the chart while Madhya Pradesh is at the very bottom. In terms of equity, Kerala pips Punjab to the top slot, while Andhra Pradesh has the highest levels of disparity, says a new study that ranks states based on pattern of ownership of consumer durables. The soon-to-be released report by ratings and...

-The Telegraph New Delhi: Some 55,000 women and girls trafficked from Bengal are working as maids in Delhi, many of them "sold as bonded labourers" to wealthy households where they slog for ungodly hours without pay and are often tortured or sexually abused. More than half these women are minors - many as young as 10 - who are duped with promises of a better life and brought to the capital by...

-Newsclick.in Caste discrimination percolates down to the food plates for Musahar community in Madhepura district of Bihar reports Neha Dixit "The mahant of the Shankar Math told me to stay away from ultra-Left people the day I questioned the Collector about the hunger deaths in my village," recounts Prabhansh Manjhi. Prabhansh is from the Musahaar community in Madhepura district of Bihar. Estimated to be 2.3 million in the country, they are Mahadalits, one...