-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...

-The Hindustan Times A new study has put the number of people in modern slavery worldwide at an estimated 29.8 million. India tops the list for nation-wise figures, with almost 14 million people trapped in different forms of slavery. These shocking figures, released in a new Global Slavery Index report, measure debt bondage, forced marriage, sale or exploitation of children, human trafficking and forced labour across the world. The index, released by the...

-The Economic Times KOLKATA: There is some good news for the UPA government, which is trying hard to tackle the rising import bill. Japan has shown interest in buying Rice bran oil from India - a country that depends on import of edible oil for meeting nearly 60 per cent of its domestic consumption. Export of Rice bran oil will help India earn foreign exchange, thus reducing the rising import bill...

-The Business Standard Contrary to earlier claims, farm growth may be robust The projection by the Commission for Agricultural Costs and PRices (CACP) of robust agricultural growth of above five per cent and a consequential handsome rise in rural incomes comes as a silver lining to India's otherwise gloomy economic scene. The CACP's reckoning, based on a rigorous mathematical model, virtually discounts the agriculture ministry's kharif crop output estimates (called first advance...

-The Times of India PATIALA: After generating much-needed revenue from sale of government properties and taxes on sale of tobacco products in the state, Punjab is now set to pump money for its cancer relief fund from a cess on the sale of basmati Rice. In a notification issued recently, the Punjab government has decided that 0.25% of the total revenue generated from the purchase of basmati in the state would be...