-The Hindu   Union Minister of State for Prime Minister's Office V. Narayanasamy has expressed firm optimism of finding a solution to the stalemate in the Kudankulam nuclear power plant by the end of next month. Addressing a press conference here, the Minister said the first round of talks between the expert committee appointed by the Centre and protesters' campaigning against the project on November 8 was “purposeful.” The local community and the protesting...

Residents overcome an age-old bastion of discrimination The Dalits of Uthapuram village near here, where the ‘untouchability' wall was demolished in 2008, on Thursday entered a temple under the control of the upper caste Hindus, with police protection. Although scores of upper caste Hindus received the 11 Dalit persons outside the temple with folded hands, the scene was marred by the loud wails of women from the nearby streets who were opposed...

-Economic and Political Weekly   Mamata Banerjee concurs with P Chidambaram’s counterinsurgency strategy. She revels in rhetoric – Mamata Banerjee’s word of honour was parivartan (change). A large section of the people of West Bengal desperately wanted change, so parivartan brought her to the helm at Writers’ Building, with its Corinthian facade carrying over from the heyday of the East India Company, now, of course, the office and secretariat of the chief minister...

-The Times of India   The government is reaching out to civil society to avoid being caught on the wrong foot while identifying the poor. Rural development minister Jairam Ramesh has written to members of the Right to Food Campaign (RFC), addressing their concerns on the manner in which poor households are being identified in the socio-economic and caste census. As part of this effort, a committee headed by Abhijit Sen has been...

Two days after a mob of 300 Trinamool workers and supporters stormed a police station in the heart of Kolkata, assaulted policemen and vandalised government and private vehicles, the police have filed a preliminary report of the rioting — and indicted their own men. The mob, comprising members of two clubs in Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee’s south Kolkata neighbourhood, fought street battles with policemen from Bhowanipore police station who had asked...