Rayala-Telangana: To Hammer Out A Deal Or To Hoodwink?

By Ramesh Reddy | Hyderabad

In what could finally be an air balloon, the Congress high command seems to be pursuing the Rayala Telangana proposal 'with some seriousness' now. However, it could encounter various hurdles in the process.

The proposal is also being seen as a psychological game being played by the AICC leadership. The latest strategy of the Centre/Congress high command behind the Rayala Telangana move is being interpreted in two ways.

Amazing Fact: Teaching Medicine Without MBBS Degree?

By Pratap Sinha | Delhi

Authorities at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in the Bihar capital are shocked that over 90 percent of applicants for teachers' posts at the institute did not have the mandatory MBBS degree, an official said on Saturday.

The Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS) degree is the first professional degree awarded on graduation from a medical school. 

'Love' In 'Bigg Boss': How Real Are These Relationships?

By Niloufer Khan | INN Live

Kushal Tandon proposed to Gauhar Khan in the "Bigg Boss Saath-7" house and this boosted viewers' curiosity, while Tanisha Mukherjee-Armaan Kohli's camaraderie is keeping the audiences hooked to the ongoing season of the reality show.

How real are these relationships? Ex-contestants claim inmates sometimes "fake romances" for survival and to boost viewership ratings and sometimes "they attach themselves to someone" due to loneliness in the house, where they are locked up for three months without contact with the outside world.

'Brewing Ballots In A Metro Coach, No Service Plans Yet'

By Kajol Singh | Delhi

DELHI ELECTIONS 2013  While the Delhi Congress is relying on the development plank, the BJP and the AAP offer a more kind of traditional politics.

It is 11:30 p.m. Passengers wait on a train at the Central Secretariat Metro station here, as more people — mostly the late-night-shift workers who live in the outskirts of the national Capital but toil in the heart of it — troop into the coaches. From the metro station, which is located in Lutyens’ Delhi, these people expect to have a safer, hassle-free journey and reach Badarpur, the last stop of the route, almost forty kilometres away on the borders of Delhi and Haryana the neighbouring State.

“Do you realise this was impossible a decade back before the Congress government brought Delhi Metro in the Capital?” says Surinder Singh, sitting in one of the Metro coaches, trying to strike up a conversation with his fellow passengers.

'Welfare Neglected As Personalities And Caste Dominate'

By Jagmaal Rana | Jaipur

RAJASTHAN ELECTION 2013 The ruling Congress has sought to put the spotlight on big-ticket welfare schemes and development projects it introduced at different points of time during the last five years.

But the development and welfare plank has largely been a sideshow in a campaign that has primarily been conducted on two levels: at a macro level, it’s a personal fight between current Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot and the BJP aspirant Vasundhara Raje and, at the micro level, contests continue to be fought on the age-old issues of caste, community and religion.

Interestingly, these issues have been at work right from the selection of candidates by all major parties to the casting of votes. Development practitioners wonder if there is indeed a correlation between growth and governance.

Impact: 'Landmark Food Scheme May Have Turned Stale'

By Mithilesh Mishra | Raipur

CHHATTISGARH ELECTIONS 2013 

The reach of Chhattisgarh's food distribution programme has not been uniform. Santosh Chaudhury, 35, runs a laundry in Raipur’s affluent Telebandha area. With his moderate income, he supports his family of four and doesn’t have too many complaints against the Bharatiya Janata Party government that has been in power for the last ten years. Raman Singh has done a lot for the poor, he says, while purchasing his monthly quota of subsidised foodgrains from the neighbourhood ration shop.

Hoping On Hope: Will Andhra Pradesh Remain United?

By M H Ahssan | INN Live

The union government may be going ahead with tabling a bill in next month's winter session of parliament for carving out Telangana from Andhra Pradesh but leaders from the Seemandhra region are still hopeful that the state will remain united.

Even as the Group of Ministers (GoM) finalised its report on the mechanics of the bifurcation and a draft bill is likely to come up before the union cabinet next week, the leaders from Seemandhra (Rayalaseema and coastal Andhra) have not lost hope.

'Secret File' Raises Doubt On Subhash C Bose’s ‘Death’!

By Likhaveer | INN Live

A classified record from the Ministry of External Affairs lays bare the Indian government’s less than honest approach towards finding out the truth about Subhash Chandra Bose’ presence in Soviet Russia after his assumed death.

Classified as “Secret”, the second highest level of security grading for a government document after “Top Secret”, the record is from 1996 when Pranab Mukherjee, now President, was the External Affairs Minister. Mukhrjee’s noting appears on the record along with that of the then Foreign Secretary Salman Haidar.