Telangana Medical Exam Paper Leak Points At Corruption In TRS Govt

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

`Dear, you have been shrtlstd for MBBS counselling in govt/Private medical colleges of Europe/Ukraine, No donation. For appointment call: 80107xxxxx'.

This was an innocuous SMS that landed in the inbox of several students appearing for the medical exam entrance test (EAMCET) in Telangana. This was followed by a phone call from a woman who claimed to represent a consultancy firm.

Swachch Bharat's Mothers, Babies In Peril: 343 Hospitals In 6 States Struggle With Hygiene, Toilets

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Swachch Bharat Abhiyaan is acheived by Modi's government but the reality is quite different,  as many as 19% of the facilities did not have wash basins near toilets and patient-care areas.

Half the post-natal wards of primary healthcare centres lacked toilets, as did 60% of larger community health centres in Madhya Pradesh, which has a higher maternal mortality rate than war-torn Syria.Open defecation was allowed within 38% and open urination in 60% of health facilities (PHCs, CHCs, area and district hospitals) in Odisha’s Ganjam district, which has the same maternal mortality rate as the impoverished African country of Gabon.

Superstar Rajinikanth, Star Cricketer Tendulkar, Star Politician Modi: Are Indians Prone To 'Celebrity Worship Syndrome'?

By NISHI KHAN | INNLIVE

The euphoria of epic proportions surrounding Kabali, which was released on Friday, poses one important question: Why do Indians have such an astonishing penchant for idolisation? 

Be it Rajinikanth or Sachin Tendulkar or Narendra Modi-or Indira Gandhi in the past-Indians, especially those who live south of the Vindhyas, stretch their adulation for their icons to extremes.

Telangana Is Struggling To Contain Primate Problem – And It's Not Monkey Business

By RADHAKRISHNA | INNLIVE

The state has planned an afforestation drive and a rescue and rehab centre that it hopes will help contain the problem, but scepticism abounds.

On July 1, residents of Venkatapuram village in Telangana’s Mahbubnagar district found themselves under attack, their homes invaded, their property destroyed and their supplies taken away. The attackers in question were a group ofErra Kothulu which means red-faced monkeys, which is what the Indian rhesus macaque is called in these parts.

Opinion: Is Holding Simultaneous Elections For Lok Sabha And State Assemblies Necessarily A Good Idea?

By M H AHSSAN| INNLIVE

Will doing so address the real challenges of governing? What is the evidence from other countries?

The idea of holding simultaneous elections to the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies has gained some ground recently. In December 2015, a parliamentary standing committee recommended a move in this direction by streamlining elections into two phases – one concurrent with Lok Sabha elections, the second in the mid-term of the Lok Sabha.

IT Graduates Aplenty In Hyderabad, But Where Are The 'Skilled'?

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

A steady 6% to 9% year-on-year increase in workforce notwithstanding, Hyderabad's IT sector is faced with a severe crunch - that of skilled resources.

Experts rue how a majority of the nearly 2 lakh students graduating from city engineering colleges every year do not have technical expertise - particularly in fast-growing fields such as cyber security and analytics - thus creating a huge demand-supply gap.

No End For 'Water War' Of Telangana And Andhra Pradesh, But Can They Win The Battle?

By RADHAKRISHNA | INNLIVE

Several irrigation projects in both states are stuck over disagreements on water-sharing, even as drought-like conditions persist year after year.

Late in May, tensions erupted once again in Andhra Pradesh’s Rayalaseema region over the Rajolibanda Diversion Scheme, an inter-state barrage to supply water to Andhra, Karnataka and Telangana.

Farmers from Andhra Pradesh’s Kurnool – one of four districts that form the water-starved Rayalaseema – are up in arms against those in neighbouring Mahabubnagar in Telangana, both of which are fed by the irrigation project.

Is Telangana CM KCR Redrawing New State's District Boundaries To Fix His Political Opponents?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE
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There’s criticism that the state's 14 new districts are being decided on the Telangana chief minister’s whims instead of on a scientific study.

Two years after being carved out of united Andhra Pradesh, Telangana is feeling division pangs once again.

On Friday, a highway blockade that was started by people agitating for a separate district in Telangana got out of hand when the protestors, realising that their demands may not be met, damaged two buses and set one on fire.

Telugu Desam Party Supremo & AP CM Chandrababu Naidu, Still Loyal To NDA For Now Even As Discontentment With Narendra Modi Grows

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

TDP Supremo Chandrababu Naidu was rarely seen without a laptop in the last years of his previous term as the Andhra Pradesh chief minister. Once, when I called him 'Laptop' Naidu, he took it as a compliment. He constantly monitored sundry schemes on a laptop and exuded supreme confidence that he would sweep the 2004 elections. He lost. And it took him 10 years to return as the CM.

Naidu is a changed man now. It's not because, instead of a laptop, he now has an iPad as a constant companion and he talks of 'iCloud' and 'file-sharing' to review his government's work.

Telangana Slips Into Agitation 2.0 As KCR Plans 'Kejriwal Act' At Delhi

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Telangana state is geared up to agitation 2.0 demanding the proper bifurcation of the state on certain long pending issues.

Two years after he secured the state of Telangana after a 13-year-long struggle, K Chandrasekhar Rao will wear the hat of a protester once again. The chief minister of Telangana now plans to do an Arvind Kejriwal by sitting on a dharna in the country's capital, to protest against the delay in bifurcation of the High court of Hyderabad.

Detentions Of Islamic State Terror Suspects Leave Hyderabadi Muslims Shaken And Kept The Community On Edge

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

'The mindset of the police force and the media is such that the guilt of a Muslim is taken for granted,' complains one man.

It's been a tumultuous couple of days for one family in Hashmabad area in Hyderabad. Early on Wednesday morning, the National Investigation Agency picked up brothers Habeeb Mohammed and Abdul Qader for having suspected links with an Islamic State terror module.

India Is Slowly Cleaving Into Two Countries – A Richer, Older South And A Poorer, Younger North

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

Support to the elderly is fraying in India. But no one appears prepared for this – not families, not companies, not the government.

At traffic intersections, drivers in Delhi tune out the brown-haired, snot-nosed waifs who tap and scratch insistently at their car windows. Sometimes, the children are joined by equally ragged parents, mostly in their 20s, trying to sell cheap Chinese-made junk – from plastic flowers to cellphone and steering-wheel covers. The defining feature of destitution in North India appears to be youth.

Indian Jews: This Little Known Minority Community With A Rich Heritage - 1

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

(Editor's note: This is the first in a two-part series on the Jewish community in India)

Last week the Maharashtra state government bestowed minority status on a minuscule and ancient community - the Indian Jews. This official recognition by Maharashtra, the second state to do so after West Bengal, is imperative to the very survival of its Jewish community. Maharashtra (part of erstwhile Bombay State) has always been home to a majority of Indian Jews, it today has 2466 Jews out of the all-India total of 4,650 Jews.

AP Govt Is Leaving Hyderabad Capital: Why June 27 Has Become Such A Flashpoint For 13,324 Govr Employees?

By RADHAKRISHNA | INNLIVE

What prompted Chandrababu Naidu to order his state government to move lock, stock and barrel from the capital city that it has rights over for eight more years?

June 27 is D-Day, as far as the Andhra Pradesh government is concerned. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu has asked 13,324 employees of the state government Secretariat and various heads of department to shift from Hyderabad to the transitional headquarters at Guntur by this date. They are expected to move to and begin functioning from near Amaravati, the ambitious new capital being built near Guntur and Vijayawada.

A Special Note To AP CM Chandrababu Naidu: 'Family Planning Is Not About Class But About Women's Rights And Choices'

By NEWS KING | INNLIVE

Andhra Pradesh chief minister Chandrababu Naidu recently asked rich people in the state to have more than one child.

Determining the size of her family is every woman’s right. For individuals in leadership positions, to make comments to the contrary is regressive and can push back the country’s progress on many fronts. These include India’s goal for population stabilisation, FP2020 – an international partnership of more than 20 governments on family planning – and the Sustainable Development Goals commitments. The debate is not whether the rich should have more children; it is about choices and rights.

Political Play: AP Govt Bid To Take Control Of Sakshi Media Group Aimed At Crippling Naidu’s Rival Jagan

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The state hopes to do this by using a new law framed to recover the ill-gotten assets of public servants.

When the Telugu Desam Party came to power in Andhra Pradesh in 2014, its Rajya Sabha MP CM Ramesh predicted that YSR Congress chief YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s troubles had just begun. He said that the TDP would ensure that corruption cases against Reddy are pursued vigorously. The gameplan was clear: ensure Reddy’s prosecution before the next round of polls in 2019 so that the path to Chandrababu Naidu’s second term as chief minister is clear.

How Telangana CM KCR is Wiping Out The Congress And Telugu Desam Party From The State?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

While the TDP is down to three legislators, the Congress is left with just 12 after a series of defections to the chief minister's Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao seems to be generously assisting the Bharatiya Janata Party in its mission to wipe out the Congress from India.

Since the formation of Telangana in 2014, the Congress’ strength in the 119-member state Assembly has fallen from 21 to 12. Over the last two years, there has been a steady trickle of Parliamentarians and legislators from the Congress' Gandhi Bhavan to Telangana Bhavan, the office of the ruling Telangana Rashtra Samithi.

Crop Damage Hits Tomato Supply; Prices Surge Up To Rs 100 Per Kilogram

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Tomato prices in most retail markets across the country have doubled to up to Rs 100 per kg in last 15 days due to sluggish supply owing to crop damage.

Earlier this month, prices of tomato - a key kitchen vegetable - were ruling in the range of Rs 20-40 per kg, as per data maintained by the Consumer Affairs Ministry.

AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu Is Against The Dynasty Rule, Why He Is Grooming His Son Lokesh?

By RADHAKRISHNA | INNLIVE

Stanford-educated Nara Lokesh, who is already deeply involved in party and government affairs, is expected to lead the Telugu Desam Party in 2019.

In 1985, the Telugu Desam Party was in the midst of an angry internal churn. N Chandrababu Naidu, the party’s general secretary, fought tooth and nail against his father-in-law and party founder NT Rama Rao’s proposal to name his son, Nandamuri Balakrishna, an actor, as his political heir.

Indian National Congress: Death Of The 'Dynastic Rule'?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The Congress is prone to describing the ongoing rebellion in its ranks, as also the departure of leaders from its fold, as glowing examples of opportunism bedevilling Indian politics. What the Congress fails to comprehend is that opportunism is inevitable in a system which privileges dynasty over ideology.

The Congress does indeed have an ideology, nebulous though it may be seem to observers. The problem, however, arises from the fact that the Gandhis personify the party ideology. It is consequently subordinated to the family in the hierarchy of importance, exposing the Congress to the perils inherent to any dynastic rule.

For one, the dissidents in the Congress frame their rebellion against the wrong choices of the dynasty.