-The Business Standard Consumers say they cannot buy branded FMCG items in mobile phones, customers opt for low-end handsets while retaining brand loyalty Last year, Ashok Das, a farmer-cum-fisherman from the small industrial town of Rishra in the Hooghly district of West Bengal, had promised his younger son a branded television. But last year’s bad crop output and this season’s deficient monsoon made him change his plans and finally settle on a...

-PTI Two hundred miners trapped in West Bengal coal mines have been evacuated, while efforts are going on to rescue 65 others stuck in Jharkhand mines.  265 miners were trapped in various coal mines of state- owned Eastern Coalfields and Bharat Coking Coal in the two states following massive power failure across the country due to grids collapse by 1300 hrs.  "All the 200 stuck inside Sodepur and Satgram mines in Burdwan (West...

-LIve Mint A day ahead of a crucial ministerial meeting to review India’s severe rainfall deficiency, the agriculture ministry has unveiled a district-level plan of action that primarily consists of advisories on the kind of seeds to be sown, altered sowing plans and the conservative use of Water. According to the department’s website, advisories have been issued to Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa, Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka, Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, West...

-The Hindu “Study these four men washing down the steps of this unpalatable Bombay hotel. The first pours Water from a bucket, the second scratches the tiles with a twig broom, the third uses a rag to slop the dirty Water down the steps into another bucket, which is held by the fourth. After they have passed, the steps are as dirty as before… They are not required to clean,” but...

-IANS  Terming India as world's capital for open defecation, Drinking Water and Sanitation Minister Jairam Ramesh Thursday said that 100,000 "bio-toilets" will be installed in about 300 backward gram panchayats in the next two years at a cost of Rs.150 crore. "We are the world's capital for open defecation.  It is a matter of shame, anguish, sorrow, anger," Ramesh said, noting over 60 percent of all open defecation takes place in India. Speaking at...