By Sudhakar Reddy / Hyderabad
Ostensibly, the politicians agitating for a united Andhra Pradesh are battling for their people’s right to a fair share of resources. In reality, unknown to the people rallying behind their leaders’ call for strikes, blockages and picketing, senior leaders are actually battling to save their respective business interests in Telangana, in the garb of a ‘people’s protest’ for a united Andhra Pradesh.
By Kanchi Kohli / Delhi
The controversy surrounding the clearances given to the Mahan and Chhatrasal coal blocks that are located within forested areas in Madhya Pradesh illustrates the continuing tussle between environment and conservation on one side and regulatory trade-offs in the interests of speedier economic growth on the other. It also exposes the conflicting approaches and attitudes within the government.
By Anand Tethumbde / Mumbai
The way godmen and godwomen are thriving, with an influential section of their followers in the executive, the legislature and the judiciary, and even in premier scientific and technological establishments, the Constitution's hope of the inculcation of "scientifi c temper" lies shattered. The assassination of Narendra Dabholkar, a rationalist devoted to the eradication of superstition, on the one hand, and the roaring "success", until very recently, of the self-proclaimed godman Asaram "Bapu" in spreading unfounded beliefs, on the other, are pointers in this regard.
By M H Ahssan / INN Live
Just over one year ago, in June 2012, Hyderabad was rated by the World Bank (in its highly regarded Doing Business Rankings) as the second best city in India to do business in. It ranked way ahead of the other metros; New Delhi (6), Mumbai (10), Bengaluru (13), Chennai (15) and Kolkata (17). Now, the economic powerhouse of Andhra Pradesh — it alone contributes a third of the state’s tax revenues — is likely to fall several notches in any ranking after the near anarchy, engineered by an opportunistic Congress, that has gripped disunited Andhra over the last two months.
By Ankit Sachdeva (Guest Writer)
The last time we saw them together was more than 20 years ago, but that has done nothing to weaken the romanticised speculations about actors Amitabh Bachchan and Rekha. So it’s not surprising when the two of them were recently spotted in a photo, that snapshot went viral on social media.
A pilot of a domestic flight wanted to click a picture with Amitabh Bachchan. The actor obliged. However, when the picture when up online, it was neither the pilot nor Bachchan who grabbed people’s attention, but the sight of Rekha sitting in the seat behind Bachchan.
By M H Ahssan / INN Live
Contrary to the prevailing opinion, in this country, new state formation has never been smooth. Nor were the procedures exactly similar. Each state formation was unique and had followed a different sequence of steps.
The only thing common to all the state formations so far in Independent India has been the rigid applicability of Article 3 in its truest sense, where Parliament is given the supreme authority to carve out states irrespective of the opinion of the involved State Assemblies.
While the NDA followed a convenient procedure in the creation of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000, where the state assemblies initiated the demand for separation, such a procedure is neither legally mandated nor is constitutionally prescribed and deviates from most other prior state formations.
By Usha Revelli / Hyderabad
Who would have ever thought that the historic and sleepy town of Vizianagaram would one day become a seething cauldron, reminiscent of the Bobbili battles of the region many centuries ago, that required authorities to clamp a curfew in the town?
The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee chief Botsa Satyanarayana definitely did not expect this. Nor did he imagine that he would become the prime target of the protesters in his home town, who went on a rampage, destroying a sizeable percentage of the business empire that belongs to him and his family members in the district.
By M H Ahssan / INN Live
Several towns and hundreds of villages in the coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema and Telangana regions of Andhra Pradesh plunged into darkness while several trains were cancelled as the indefinite strike by electricity employees to protest the decision to divide the state hit power generation and supply.
Following talks with officials on Sunday night, employees agreed to restore supply in six districts but made it clear that they would resume their strike on Monday morning.
