-The Indian Express Shirwani, Pitora, Deoli (Uttarakhand): Over a fortnight after the flash-floods, while many villages remain inaccessible by road, tragic stories are emerging from areas where dirt tracks have been opened up. About seven kilometres from Guptkashi, the six-odd hamlets that comprise the Deoli-Bramhagram panchayat have reported 57 men missing, and the area is fast getting the tag of the "village of widows". For about six months of the year,...

-The Hindu Scrutiny reveals 242 men and 129 women commit suicide every day Kollam: As many as 1,35,445 people committed suicide in the country last year. Statistics released by the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) show that excluding West Bengal, 79,773 men and 40,715 women had taken the extreme step. West Bengal, where 14,957 suicides were reported, did not provide classification statistics to the NCRB. The rate of suicide last year stands at...

-The Hindu The order may give rise to property and employment benefit claims relating to unmarried people. Parents could find sexual partners of their children making demands for a share of their assets. The discussion on the Madras High Court verdict on the implications of sexual relationships between unmarried couples has been wide-ranging - from mirthful responses to the suggestion that such liaisons could attain marital status under certain circumstances, to sympathetic...

-The Times of India MUMBAI: Less than one in five single working women, excluding those divorced and widowed, take their own investment decisions, a recent all-India survey has found. Despite handling responsibilities at their workplace, they depend on parents and family members, friends and financial advisers when it comes to taking a call on money matters such as where and how much to invest. The reasons for this behaviour vary from...

-IPS News ROME: Jassiben, a self-employed potter from Nana Shahpur village in western India, loves summer despite the heat waves and frequent power cuts, because summer days always mean great business. "Poor people like us do not have refrigerators, so they store drinking water in the earthen pots that keep the water cool," says Jassiben, who uses only one name. "This year, the demand has been so high, I am selling at least...