-BBC Dalits are at the bottom of the Hindu caste system and despite laws to protect them, they still face widespread discrimination in India, writes Natalia Antelava. As the glass flew across the room and straight into the wall, a dozen or so men stopped drinking their tea. Dr Vinod Sonkar threw money on the counter - enough for the tea he drank and the glass he had smashed - and walked out. Dr...

-The Business Standard Days after the High Court here struck down the Singur Land Rehabilitation and Development Act, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee today announced the state would double the monthly aid to Singur landlosers to Rs 2,000 a month. The announcement of an increase of Rs 1,000 in monthly allowances to Singur farmers was made by the All India Trinamool Congress on Twitter, quoting the chief minister. Earlier, the state government had announced...

-The Business Standard When the anti-Posco brigade celebrated the seventh anniversary of their agitation against the mega steel venture of the South Korean behemoth at Dhinkia near Paradip in Odisha last week, the noise they made against the project was drowned by the murmurs of a split in their ranks. After fighting against the project for the last seven years, Posco Pratirodh Sangram Samiti (PPSS) seems to be disintegrating, with many of...

-The Telegraph Trinamul Congress leaders today criticised governor M.K. Narayanan for saying that “legal advice” from the administration did not talk of seeking presidential assent for the Singur law. “I thought we did not require the president’s approval. That was the legal advice also. If the high court felt otherwise, it’s fine. That’s ok. What can we do?” the governor had said in response to a question yesterday. A Calcutta High Court division...

-The Telegraph Governor M.K. Narayanan today said he was given “legal advice” that the Singur bill did not require presidential assent — an observation the government has seized upon in its search for a scapegoat. Absence of presidential assent was one of the key reasons cited by a Calcutta High Court division bench last week to strike down the Singur law. The state government today spoke of looking at “other alternatives” alongside...