RANWAN, India — In this north Indian village, workers recently dismantled stacks of burned and mildewed rice while flies swarmed nearby over spoiled wheat. Local residents said the rice crop had been sitting along the side of a highway for several years and was now being sent to a distillery to be turned into liquor. Just 180 miles to the south, in a slum on the outskirts of New Delhi, Leela...

Of the four persons who died in the rioting in Kosi Kalan in Mathura district on Friday, two were twins. Postmortem has confirmed that both of them were alive when they suffered the burns that killed them. The family says they were caught by a mob and thrown into a burning shop, from which their bodies were found. Bhura and Kallua, who made a living selling vegetables on the Agra-Delhi highway,...

A government report lends credence to the notion of “two Indias”, or the distinction between “India” and “Bharat” – a theme often debated in recent years. At a time when urban India is growing and policy makers have expressed clear preference for the trend, this report, by National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), brings India’s deep urban-rural divide into focus, showing disparities in scale and levels of expenditure and consumption and, equally...

-The Times of India The Madras high court on Thursday refused to interfere with the recent increase of petrol prices, and also observed that the last week's crippling petrol and diesel shortage in Tamil Nadu had been overcome due to state government's efforts. A vacation bench of the court comprising Justice K Venkataraman and Justice C S Karnan passed the order on Thursday, while dismissing a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by...

-Live Mint After a record harvest of 90.23 mt this year, the govt’s wheat stocks were at 38.2 mt as of 1 May Worry lines run deep on the faces of wheat farmers in Sehrala in Haryana as falling prices, higher input costs and poor infrastructure erode earnings and cast doubt over not just their next crop, but their future in agriculture as well. Agents in the grain market of Ballabgarh said spot...