-The Financial Express After plummeting to a record low two months back, the retail price of potatoes has risen sharply due to lower supplies. The prices have been rising mainly due to expectations of a lower rabi output in the key producing states of Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal. Traders at Delhi’s Azadpur market say potato prices have risen in the last two weeks because of lower supplies from UP, West Bengal and...

-First Post Two different newspapers, and two contrasting views on how to deal with giving brands unpaid publicity. This morning, The Times of India carries a story on a survey which has found Bangalore as scoring the lowest among seven cities in motorist behaviour. This is what The Times of India reports: That the motorists in Bangalore don’t seem to care for pedestrians has been a subject of intense debate for long. The...

-BBC A former head of Swedish police says there is no evidence that late Indian leader Rajiv Gandhi received a bribe in an arms scandal that contributed to his defeat as PM in elections in 1989. Sten Lindstrom led the probe and has identified himself as the whistle-blower who recently leaked documents. Mr Lindstrom said, however, that Gandhi had "done nothing" to prevent a "massive cover-up" in Sweden and India. Swedish arms firm AB...

-The Economist For the first time ever, the number of poor people is declining everywhere THE past four years have seen the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the biggest food-price increases since the 1970s. That must surely have swollen the ranks of the poor. Wrong. The best estimates for global poverty come from the World Bank’s Development Research Group, which has just updated from 2005 its figures for those living in...

Notwithstanding apprehensions expressed by rural development minister Jairam Ramesh on the proposal of giving grain as part payment of wages under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, food minister KV Thomas  on Sunday continued to support the idea. Thomas said, “There is enough surplus grain to be given to poor families.” In a recent letter to the Jairam Ramesh, Thomas had made the proposal, which he said would also help ease...