-Outlook Vigorous action can nullify the reasons that conspire to keep Dalits out of newsrooms In the ’50s, a foreign correspondent wrote to a renowned south Indian English daily, seeking comments on alleged discrimination against non-Brahmin journalists on its staff. Discrimination was out of the question, the paper clarified, as it never hired a non-Brahmin!  Over  60 years later, the media landscape has altered but the Indian newsroom is still the sanctuary...

-The Indian Express Jhargram: Even as people return, a steady out-migration, especially of agricultural labour and farmers, continues from the region that has seen poor rain for years now. Taralata Mahato (25) draws awed whispers from women of Jhambeda village in West Midnapore’s Jhargram block as the only one from the village in the police. Taralata lives in a pucca two-storey house with whitewashed walls and a huge cowshed — a palatial home...

-The Hindu Business Line How Uttarakhand has roped in top scientists to popularise science among schoolchildren Twice each year, the sleepy town of Gangolihat in Pithoragarh district, Uttarakhand comes alive as hundreds of school students from nearby areas throng the campus of the Himalayan Gram Vikas Samiti (HGVS) to have their scientific curiosities addressed by top scientists from prestigious research institutes. These month-long events have been held annually during April-May and October-November...

-The Hindu Kolkata: Ms. Banerjee declared in her affidavit that her movable assets amount to Rs. 30,45,012. Her assets in September 2011 was Rs. 15,84,189. The assets of Trinamool Congress chief Mamata Banerjee have nearly doubled in the past five years after she assumed office of Chief Minister of West Bengal. Ms. Banerjee, who filed her nomination papers on Friday to contest from Bhabanipur Assembly constituency in the city, declared in her affidavit...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: Mounting cases and shortage of judges are well-documented challenges facing the Indian judiciary. Now, for the first time, a study has quantitatively analysed the work pressure on judges, and the results are shocking. A judge in a high court spends less than five minutes, on an average, hearing a case, it says. "The most relaxed high court judges in the country have 15-16 minutes to hear...