-The Economic Times PUNE: The seemingly inexorable rise in the price of dal was unabated on Thursday with some experts predicting that tur, urad and moong—staples of Indian households—could remain beyond the reach of consumers through Diwali and Christmas.  With wholesale prices having risen by about 18% in a week and crossing the Rs 190/kg mark, end consumers may have to pay as much as Rs 200/kg for dal in a few...

-PTI BHUBANESWAR: A day after chief minister Naveen Patnaik announced Rs 1,000 crore package for farmers hit by drought conditions in 12 districts, Odisha government today identified four more districts facing water scarcity.  "Reports received from field level say that crop loss to the extent of 33 per cent and above have also been been experienced in 16 more blocks spread over four districts like Balangir, Bargargh, Jharsuguda and Nuapada. Therefore, these...

-Hindustan Times For a Clean India, be prepared for higher fuel and phone bills. A group of chief ministers has recommended a cess on petroleum products, telecom services and waste generated by mineral-based industries as well as Swachh Bharat bonds to fund the ambitious campaign. In a report submitted to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday, the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI) Aayog sub-group headed by Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu...

-The Hindu MUMBAI: Around the time that Shiv Sainiks were blackening Sudheendra Kulkarni's face on Monday morning, a Pakistani girl and her mother were getting ready to leave Mumbai with warm memories of a 49-day stay and gratitude for Indians. Some Indians had, after all, contributed almost Rs 13 lakh to finance 15-year-old Karachi resident Saba Tariq Ahmed's treatment for Wilson's disease, a disorder that results in poisonous accumulation of copper in...

-Reuters NEW DELHI: New HIV infections in India could rise for the first time in more than a decade because states are mismanaging a prevention programme by delaying payments to health workers, the United Nations envoy for AIDS in Asia and the Pacific said. India's efforts to fight HIV have for years centred around community-based programmes run for people at high risk of contracting the virus, such as sex workers and injecting...