-PTI MUMBAI: Prices of pulses are expected to remain low in the next few months following good monsoons, high acreage, lower hikes in minimum support price and moderate demand, according to a report by rating agency Crisil. "Pulses inflation is likely to stay low over the next few months thanks to good monsoons, higher acreage, lower hikes in minimum support prices and moderate demand," the CrisilBSE -0.74 % report said. Food inflation in...

-The Hindustan Times Patna: Arjun Singh, 48, lost his father and wife in quick succession, in 2004 and 2005. Then followed a long spell of depression and "utter loneliness", until in 2007 a sparrow chick that had fallen from a tree in the courtyard of his house transformed his life for good. He tended to the bird for a few days. It recovered and flew off, kicking off a passionate association...

-Down to Earth Half of India's population defecates in the open. In all probability, they will continue to do so for the next 10 years By the time you read this article, some 600 million Indians must have taken that first call of nature. But for most, it must have been very unusual: to take that hesitant and humiliating step out of their homes to defecate in the open. Everyday, an...

-The Business Standard Open market price cools down as chief minister orders cold storages to empty stock by December 15 Kolkata: The first big task in hand at the new address is a success. Sitting in the plush office at the 14th floor of the newly-inaugurated secretariat, by default facing one of the infrastructure marvels created in the predecessor regime, the Vivekananda Setu, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has finally reined in the intractable...

-The Telegraph Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government should have calculated the costs of possible retaliation by other states before banning potato export from Bengal, agriculture experts have said. For now, no state has threatened a payback for the ban, clamped despite pleas from the chief ministers of Odisha and Assam after a shortage pushed up potato prices in Bengal. As the Bengal administration grapples with the problem, importers of essential foodstuff have sounded...