-Livemint.com The tribal belt of south Bengal has become ground zero of a grim battle with an ever-increasing population of visiting elephants The elephants are here,” Jiten Singh declares without any show of emotion as we arrive at Tapoban (Madhyapara) village. About 65km from Kharagpur town, Tapoban is a tribal hamlet deep within the vast forested terrain known as Jangalmahal, in West Bengal. It is nearing dusk. Ordinarily, the village would be...

-The Times of India NEW DELHI: About 239 million people across 153 districts in 21 states drink water that contains unacceptably high levels of arsenic. In effect, they are being slowly poisoned. Calculations based on information provided by the water resources ministry in response to a question in the Lok Sabha reveal that 65% of Assam's population, or about 21 million people, is drinking arsenic-contaminated water, while it's 60% in Bihar...

-The Telegraph Calcutta: Economist Kaushik Basu on Friday regretted the rise of a "narrow-minded" approach and "hatred" in the country. Basu, the C. Marks professor of international studies and professor of economics at Cornell University, made the observation while delivering a lecture on"economics and morality" in memory of Swami Lokeswarananda of the Ramakrishna Mission. "In today's India, we are getting narrow-minded. There is hatred among people," rued the former chief economist of the...

-PTI FRDI Bill: Jaitley says no need to create fear psychosis, government will consider what panel recommends The Money of all depositors in public-sector banks will be protected and the level of protection will be “much higher than the level which existed till today,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley told Lok Sabha Thursday. Talking about the Financial Resolution and Deposit Insurance (FRDI) Bill 2017 during his reply to the debate on Supplementary...

-Hindustan Times Audit report says most food testing labs in country are ill-equipped. The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), India’s constitutionally mandated federal auditor, has cited serious lapses in enforcing food-safety norms in the country, which, it said, could be putting public health at risk. A majority of the country’s food-testing laboratories were poorly managed, the report said. It found that 65 of the 72 state-wide food laboratories were not accredited to the...