-Tehelka Edited Excerpts From An Interview NOTED ECONOMIST and Columbia University Professor Jagdish Bhagwati’s pro-free trade stance is well-known. A friend of the prime minister and his batch mate from Cambridge University, Professor Bhagwati feels the UPA’s departure from the stagnation of the past few years is a welcome change, and lauds the decision to allow FDI in multi-brand retail. In an interview to TEHELKA Business Editor Shaili Chopra, Bhagwati says more...

-The Hindu “People’s tastes have changed and there is no respect for us in society” Chennai: Thanjavur may be a land of classical music and dance, but in three places, particularly in – Vadakku Vaasal, Keezha Vaasal and Reddipalayam – many Dalit folk artists are on the verge of quitting their profession. Though people from all communities perform folk arts, majority of them are Dalits who migrated from Ramanathapuram district around 60...

-The Hindustan Times A pack of stray dogs killed all 31 blackbucks — five males and 26 females — in Kanpur zoo in a feeding frenzy that was detected in the early hours of Sunday. Uttar Pradesh chief minister Akhilesh Yadav suspended the zoo director, K Pravir Rao, and five others for laxity which allowed the dogs to sneak into the enclosure of the blackbucks, an antelope species, late on Saturday night. Blackbucks...

-FirstPost.com Aditya Advani always knew that he wanted to have children. He also knew he was gay. Twenty years ago gay marriage was just a fantasy. Few gay couples had children – whether their own or adopted – even in the US where Advani had emigrated. But that did not deter him from bringing up the subject with potential boyfriends such as Michael Tarr, the man who is now his partner. “The...

-The Hindu With a single stroke, the government has made over 3.5 crore existing Post office accounts ready for its new Aadhaar-linked cash transfer scheme. The accounts, which belong to MGNREGA workers over the country, were originally to be used only for receiving wages under the rural employment guarantee scheme. However, the government has now woken up to the potential of using the ready-made network of accounts to directly transfer benefits such...