Modiji: What Happened To Your Promise Of 'Minimum Government, Maximum Governance'?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

From increased taxes to controlling what Indians will eat, watch or speak, the government seems to be getting more intrusive.

Small government might seem like a new idea but it’s really the oldest form of government. Throughout history, states were tiny, consisting of little more than an army (often temporary) and a paper-thin bureaucracy extending just a bit beyond a royal court. Then in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, notions of a welfare state started to take root. Pushed in part by the appeal of socialism, the United Kingdom introduced wide-ranging healthcare and Germany old-age pensions.

Spotty Harvest: India's Mangoes Are Being Hurt By Climate Blight

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Erratic rainfall and unexpected humidity is hurting the cultivation and harvest of India's favourite fruit.

There’s no one better than Vivek Bhide for information and lore about the famed Alphonso mango of Ratnagiri. Known for the excellent quality of his Alphonso mangoes, which Bhide sells under the Fruit King brand, he constantly fields calls from customers far and wide in the mango season.

The World’s Cheapest Serving Of Coca-Cola Is Being Sold In Gujarat, India— For Just Rs.5 Only

By NEWSCOP | INNLIUVE

A cup of Coke—or Sprite, or Thums Up—sold at Rs5 ($0.07) in rural Gujarat of western India is the “cheapest, most accessible Coke you can probably buy in the world,” James Quincey, the company’s president and chief operating officer, told investors earlier this month.

These inexpensive units of the drink are proof of the world’s largest beverage maker’s focus on India’s rural market, which is home to 67% of the country’s population. In India—Coke’s sixth-largest market globally “a lot of the focus is on affordability,” Quincey said, speaking during a Deutsche Bank global consumer conference call.

Health Alert: Deadly 'Polio Virus' Detected In Hyderabad Water, Telangana Declares ‘Global Emergency’

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

A mass vaccination drive will be conducted from June 20 to 26, in which more than three lakh children will be inoculated in the city and Ranga Reddy district.

The Telangana government declared a “global emergency” after an active strain of wild poliovirus (P2 strain) was found in a water sample collected from a drain in Hyderabad. In a mass vaccination drive, more than three lakh children in the city and Ranga Reddy district will be inoculated Wednesday onwards as a “preventive measure”. Two lakh vaccines were airlifted from Geneva immediately after the virus was detected,The Times of India reported.

Politics Of Language: Centre Promoting Hindi In South, Northeast India Smacks Of Parochialism

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

With a plethora of mass-media advertisements and profusion of national programmes on a variety of issues ranging from health and education to cleanliness, that should essentially be the responsibility of state and local administrations, the Narendra Modi government seems to veer more and more towards the Indira Gandhi era centralism.

Cooking With Leftovers: How to Re-Use Cooked Rice?

By REEMA SUBIA | INNLIVE

One of the biggest problems with leftovers is that not many like the idea of eating the same thing again in the next meal. 

A table of fussy eaters is common, who just won't not entertain the same dal or a curry recycled on the dinner table. "Every meal should be freshly made. Food is enjoyed best when there is variety in every meal," believes one of my dear friends who believes in the idea of gastronomic variety. But food wastage is a terrible idea, especially when there are millions who do not get food. Why not add a dash of creativity to your leftover meals, and turn them into spectacular preparations that are hard to turn down. Yet another in our 'cooking with leftovers' series, is the ultimate guide to using leftover rice to glory.

Is The Highly Photogenic Obama - Modi Friendship Real?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

It's a friendship between two powerful men that transcends politics, transcends diplomacy.

It certainly looked like genuine affection when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi pulled President Barack Obama into a bear hug as he stepped off Air Force One last year. An intimacy seemed to envelope the two as they sat in the garden of an old royal palace, smiling and chatting.

Horror On A Joyride: Is It Time For Indian Amusement Parks To Have Stricter Regulations?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

It’s almost a month since the fatal theme park accident in Chennai, but not much has been done to increase the accountability or impose tighter safety norms.

Every once in a while, there are reports of accidents at India’s amusement parks that elicit shock and indignation but are soon forgotten. The most recent one to grab eyeballs was the collapse of a 50-foot-high joyride at the Kishkinta Amusement Park near Chennai on May 11, which caused the death of a 25-year-old man and injured 10 other employees of the theme park.

Fake Federalism: How 'National Parties' Turned The Concept Of 'Rajya' In Rajya Sabha Into A Farce?

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE 

The upper House of Parliament, literally a Council of States, was meant to be a federal chamber to look out for the interests of the states.

The continued abuse of the idea of the Rajya Sabha – or the Council of States – by the so-called national parties continues with the upcoming round of Rajya Sabha elections.

Remembering History: Why India must end its official amnesia about the horrors of Partition?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

By not teaching our children that we slaughtered our own we have ensured that the practice of organised mass slaughter will continue.

"Now before our eyes lies dried tracks of blood, cut up human parts. Charred faces, mangled necks, terrified people, looted houses, burned fields, mountains of rubble, and over flowing hospitals. We are free. Hindustan is free. Pakistan is free." - Hamid Jalal from Ayesha Jalal’s The Pity of Partition.

We will never know how many people died during Partition, how many were raped and how many were displaced. On August 14 and 15, 1947, while many Indians and Pakistanis rejoiced, others stumbled into a darkness that was characterised by large-scale killing, looting and systematic degradation, sometimes with the complicity of authorities, rulers of princely states and religious leaders.

Bungled Blood Transfusions Infect 2,234 With HIV Virus In India

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Nothing can be more scarier than to be on the receiving end of a bungled blood transfusion procedure.

This report published in The Hindu, states that since the past 17 months almost 2,234 people across the country have been infected with human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) during the blood transfusions.

The cited data released by the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) further reveals that Uttar Pradesh has 361 such botched up blood transfusion cases, the highest, with Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi trailing behind with 292, 276 and 264 cases respectively.

IPL Final: Can Sunrisers Hyderabad Upset Royal Challengers Bangalore? Ask David Warner And His Men

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Virat Kohli's team is in miraculous form, pulling off the five straight wins they needed to enter the final. Hyderabad's other batters must fire too.

It was the last ball of the 17th over in Sunrisers Hyderabad’s chase of 163 against Gujarat Lions in the second qualifier of the 2016 Indian Premier League. David Warner hit Praveen Kumar’s yorker-length delivery outside off right back towards the bowler. Kumar fielded it and feigned a throw back at the batsman.

Congress Holds 'Sachchai Ka Aaina' While BJP Celebrates Two Years Of PM Modi

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

Top Union Ministers joined a gala event, which had a smattering of Bollywood actors, including megastar Amitabh Bachchan, Vidya Balan and R Madhavan, aimed at publicising the "achievements" of the Narendra Modi government on completion of two years in office.

While the centrepiece event was held at historic India Gate in New Delhi, which saw Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and many of his ministerial colleagues speak at length about numerous steps taken by the government across sectors, some Cabinet Ministers joined in from different parts of the country, including Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Guwahati and Vijaywada.

Reading 'Veer Savarkar': How A Hindutva Icon Justified The Idea Of Rape As A Political Tool?

By AJAZ ASHRAF | INNLIVE

The controversial figure castigated Maratha ruler Shivaji for sending back the daughter-in-law of the Muslim governor of Kalyan, whom he defeated.

Decades before the sexual assault of women during the 2002 Gujarat and 2013 Muzaffarnagar riots, Hindutva propounder Veer Savarkar justified rape as a legitimate political tool. This he did by reconfiguring the idea of “Hindu virtue” in his book Six Glorious Epochs of Indian History, which he wrote in Marathi a few years before his death in 1966.

For 'Make In India' To Work, India First Needs To Become Globally Competitive

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

A survey of industrial clusters in four states shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi's big idea isn't exactly working.

Bhoday Sales Corporation is tucked inside the industrial zone of Ludhiana. A small machine tooling factory with a net worth of not more than Rs 10 lakh, it makes manufacturing equipment for other plants in the city.

Of late, it has fallen on bad times. Sales are down. At one time, says its founder, 68- year-old Maan Singh, the company used to make four power presses a month. It now makes one a month.

Two Years On: PM Narendra Modi's Report Card On Govt And BJP Performance

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

The performance of Narandra Modi as an individual, the functioning of his government and the narrative of his RSS-backed party during the preceding two years calls for a dispassionate analysis that's done without any fear or favour. But believe it or not, it's too difficult a job for the simple reason that the man of the moment, his government and his party look like three different entities.

And analysing the performances of the three put together would present a confusing, indecipherable picture.

Pulse Of The People: A Brand Of Indian Candy Becomes An Unlikely Social Media Icon

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

In less than a year, Pulse candy has reached Rs 100 crore in sales. Is its unusual success due to clever internet marketing?

Shubham Sharma, a chain-smoker for four years, has grown a new addiction since last year. A software developer who works from his north Delhi home, he makes multiple trips every week to a chaiwallah’s shop two kilometres away merely to check if his box of candies has arrived.

Dynastic Politics: In Politics, It's All About Loving Your Family, But Voters Won’t Have It Anymore

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

As the results to the Assembly polls show, dynastic politics have cost political parties dear, especially the Congress.

Hindu mythology is littered with references to the obsessive love that parents have for their children. Bollywood has drunk deep from that wellspring, the “mere paas ma hai” school of thought reigning supreme over many decades.

Exclusive: Sexual Violence Routinely Used As A Weapon In Conflict Zones Across South Asia

By MENAKA RAO | INNLIVE

In Kashmir and Balochistan, Chhattisgarh and Nepal, sexual violence is used with impunity to subjugate women, say researchers.

There is an exponential increase in the incidence of sexual violence – which is often used as a tool of punishment, for revenge and to teach other communities a lesson – in areas of conflict in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. These are the findings of a three-year long project exploring sexual violence and impunity in South Asia, which were discussed during a conference in New Delhi on Saturday.

BJP Politics: Has Recent Poll Victory Made Things Difficult For Amit Shah In Gujarat?

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

With Anandiben now showing a rare belligerence, the BJP president’s plan to replace the Gujarat CM before the 2017 Assembly poll seems to be in trouble.

Amidst the exhilaration over the Bharatiya Janata Party’s landslide victory in Assam, the party leadership has begun to absorb an uncomfortable truth. BJP president Amit Shah’s strategy may have sizzled in Assam, but his plan to replace Anandiben Patel as chief minister before the 2017 Assembly elections in his home turf of Gujarat may be thwarted by a renewed vigour acquired by the chief minister following a by-election victory in the state.