-Reuters India's monsoon rains retreated to below average levels in the past week, the weather office said on Thursday, after scraping above average the previous week for the first time this season, keeping overall rainfall under par and pushing futures higher. Monsoon rains were 22 per cent below average in the week to July 18 against one per cent above average rains in the previous week, reflecting the return of a weak...

-Reuters Corn exports from India could hit a record 3.5 million tonnes in the 2011/12 marketing year to September, spurred by higher global prices and a bumper harvest, the India representative of a major US grains export association said on Thursday. India is ASIa's second-largest grower of corn after China but it is not a significant global exporter of the grain. It mainly sells to Malaysia, Indonesia and Vietnam, which seek small...

-PTI Notwithstanding the tag of being a Naxal hotbed, tribals in this east Maharashtra district have shown the way to the rest by treating girls with love and dignity and not resorting to unethical practises like female foeticide. Even as the instances of female foeticide and conducting sex determination tests are rampant in some parts of the state, Gadchiroli is by and large an exception. As is evident in the 2011 Census figures,...

-IANS The Supreme Court on Monday admitted a Bihar government plea challenging the acquittal of 23 accused in the massacre of 20 Dalits by the Ranvir Sena in Bathani Tola in Bhojpur district in 1996. An apex court bench of justice Altamas Kabir and justice J Chelameswar admitted the plea and issued notice to the acquitted accused. The trial court had convicted all the 23 accused and had awarded death sentence to...

-The Times of India It was a rainy July evening ten years ago. A motley group of villagers from Sutia gathered at the local market to protest the spate of rapes that had left the area terrorized. They were angry but terrified of reprisal. And they did not know if anyone would join the fight. Speaking in hushed tones, they distributed leaflets asking people to join the protest. Some took the...