India Genetics: The Fault, Dear Brutus, Lies In The Genes

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

Genetic testing for health risks holds plenty of promise in India, so long as enough people take to it. As he peers over the diagram of a family tree, one among several he has drawn in the past five months, Dr Amit Verma runs his fingers along the arrows to trace cancer in his patient’s family. Two of the patient’s aunts were detected with breast cancer in their forties, and their father (her maternal grandfather) had died of prostate cancer. “[The patient] is now 34 years old and is worried that she might have inherited the ‘cancer gene’, as it were,” says Dr Verma, a molecular oncologist who has been studying genes and genetic mutations that cause cancer for ten years and set up a counselling centre for it this January at Max Hospital in Delhi.

Why India Was Not Prepared For Uttarakhand Floods?

By Jagan Shah (Guest Writer)

The headlines three years ago were similar: ‘flash floods leave North India in deep trouble’ and ‘flood, rain, wreak havoc in North India’. Then, the worst hit districts were Almora, Chamauli, Uttarkashi and Nainital. Now, it is Rudraprayag. As we watch the escalating devastation of lives, homes, livelihoods and public utilities, we shrug about how helpless we are before the wrath of Mother Nature.

But we aren’t helpless: we’ve failed because, though we’ve done our homework on how not to fail, we haven’t actually turned these lessons into practice.

India accounts for one fifth of the deaths caused due to flooding across the world. Twenty-four out of the 35 States and Union Territories are vulnerable to disasters and over 5 percent of our landmass is vulnerable to floods. Annually, an average of about 18.6 million hectares of land area and 3.7 million hectares crop area are affected by flooding.

This has led to a great amount of concern—but not a whole load of action.

Selling India To The World, The Great Indian Travel Crisis

By M H Ahssan & Kajol Singh

Home is not where the travel heartland is this summer. Footloose but pennywise, Indian travellers are packing their bags for overseas destinations, shunning domestic attractions. Flying abroad has always held more spell over travelling within India, but over the last decade, Indian tourism had been attracting visitors with well marketed heritage hotels, beaches and experience destinations like Kumarakom in Kerala and the more exotic North-East route. But an unhealthy combination of exploitative airfares and steep hotel tariffs is dissuading Indian tourists from travelling within the country. It is also stopping foreign tourists from flocking in. It’s less expensive for the Indian middle class traveller to fly to Dubai or even London than to fly to Kochi or the Andamans. England, Singapore, Dubai, Germany, Croatia, Spain, France and Thailand are the new hotspots where it is easier to bump into someone from India than in Leh.

Analysis: Why BJP-JD(U) Split Will Be Good For India?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

The impending exit of Nitish Kumar’s Janata Dal (United) from the BJP-led NDA is the best thing that could have happened to both the parties – and the polity. Reason: alliances should be based on fundamental principles and similarity of views, not mere electoral math or convenience.

There is a difference between an alliance and a power-sharing agreement. An alliance has to share some core ideas and principles. A power-sharing agreement is about compromising principles and ideals to gain power. In this sense, neither NDA nor UPA is an alliance. They are pre- or post-election power-sharing arrangements.

The Disaster In The Making: 'Too Many Cooks Spoils The....'

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

BJP president Rajnath Singh on Monday refused to accept veteran leader L.K. Advani's resignation from various posts in the party. Minutes after Advani handed over his resignation to Rajnath, the latter replied to his resignation letter stating that he was rejecting it.

Apparently upset over the elevation of his one-time protege - Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi - as election campaign committee chief, the 85-year-old founder member of the BJP resigned from the Parliamentary Board, National Executive and the Election Committee.

Commentary: Modi: Neither Monster, Nor Messiah!

By Rajinder Puri / Delhi

Within a couple of days by the end of the BJP national executive meeting in Goa starting on June 7, 2013  Narendra Modi may be declared as chairman of the party’s election campaign committee or perhaps even as the party’s prime ministerial candidate. In either event it will be perceived with near certainty that he will become eventually the BJP prime ministerial candidate. This prospect fills his supporters with glee and his detractors with alarm. One section thinks that his ascent to the post will bring deliverance. The other section believes it denotes disaster. Who is right? Seldom has an individual polarized public opinion thus.

Spotlight: 'Drowning The Wildlife In Majathal Sanctuary'

By Kajol Singh / Delhi

Project proposals submitted to the NBWL routinely make a mockery of the law, bypassing decisions to their own end. A dam, constructed on the Satluj River without any wildlife clearances, will soon destroy and submerge a large tract of the Majathal Wildlife Sanctuary, one of the last refuges of the vulnerable Cheer Pheasant.

Disregarding the law and subverting regulatory Committee decisions, projects across the country pay no heed to environmental legislations.

THE MYTH OF THE 'GREAT INDIAN MIDDLE CLASS'

By Kajol Singh / New Delhi

As political parties get battle ready for the 2014 general elections, the great Indian middle class is again in the spotlight. Every political party wants the biggest pie of this vote bank, whose tilt can decide who will form the next government at the Centre.

India’s middle class will hit 250 million or 20 per cent of the country’s population in 2015, according to McKinsey and Company. But, what is the middle class? How has it evolved into such a driving force?

INDIAN TRAVEL FIRMS KEEN ON 'VACATION VOLUNTEERING'

By Krishan Mohan / Mumbai

Travel companies across the country are organising holidays for those who want to light up lives, even on a leisure trip. INN explores the various options tour companies provide.

What do you plan to do with the one month you get off from your high-stress job? Go bungee jumping in Bhutan, ride with the rhinos in Kaziranga, camp in Kullu-Manali or go hippy in Hampi? Wherever it is you’re going this summer, spare a thought for a social cause. And pick the right travel company to plan your trip around it.

WILL THE BJP FIND SOLUTION FOR ITS 'TROUBLES'?

By Sanjay Singh & Arvind Rai / Goa

‘Go Goa 365 days on a holiday’ — the punch line for India’s hottest tourist destination says. The BJP leadership, however, will move to the scenic sea front of this coastal state on 8-9 June to do some serious business — brainstorm a winning formula for the next parliamentary elections.

SREESANTH: FROM 'ANGRY BIRD' TO A 'ROTTEN EGG'?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

The spot-fixing controversy has left people from Sreesanth's home state fuming, who they say, has discredited Kerala and his fans.

Till Thursday morning, 30-year-old Sreesanth was an icon who inspired young cricketers in his home state of Kerala. Considered an angry bird with a killing instinct, people waited outside his house to catch a glimpse of him, heroines danced with him and even senior bureaucrats and politicians hosted him. But today, he is being berated as a rotten egg.

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS 'RESHUFFLE' ON CARDS?

INN News Desk

As Congress prepares for the fourth anniversary of UPA-II on 22 May, the buzz of a reshuffle in the AICC has once gained momentum.

Top party sources said a reshuffle in the party is “on the cards”.

The appointment of eight spokespersons in the first week of this month is seen as a clear indication of changes in AICC coming soon, political analysts said.

'SMALL TOWN WONDER BOOM' IN INDIAN 'HOT JOBS'

By Munawwar Khan / New Delhi

Born and brought up in a small village in Anantnag district in Kashmir, Ishfaq Shah had a childhood affected by the insurgency in the valley. But the odds stacked against him did not stop him from fulfilling his dreams. Shah, 23, completed his MBA from Lovely Professional University in Jalandhar and became the first in his village to become a manager in a corporate house. “Today, I feel that I am capable of doing something in life,” says Shah, who is now an assistant manager at Federal Bank.

COALGATE: WHY TRYING TO SHIELD THE ISSUE?

By Kajol Singh / New Delhi

Two topmost law officers of the country—Attorney General GE Vahanvati and his former deputy Harin Raval—lied before the Supreme Court that they had not gone through the CBI’s status report on Coalgate.

KAN'TKA POLLS: CONGRESS WILL DETHRONE BJP, YEDDY

By M H Ahssan / Bangalore

So the people of Karnataka have punched. And going by the bhavishya-vaani of three different exit pollsters, delivered a knockout punch to the BJP. It is pretty much certain that Karnataka is set to usher in a Congress government on 8 May.

The scenario that is emerging (depending on which exit poll you would like to believe) is that the Congress could end up either with a clear majority, above 130 seats out of 223 (election in one constituency was countermanded because of the death of the BJP candidate) or come within kissing distance of power around the 110 mark, just like the BJP in 2008. There of course, will be the eager independents who will be willing to do business with the Congress. The real contest will take place between the BJP and the JD(S) for the second spot, that will determine who will be the Leader of Opposition. BS Yeddyurappa, who still defiantly claims he will get absolute majority, will be left alone to lick his wounds and wipe his tears.

MARRY A LOWER CASTE AND GET 75,000 IN HIMACHAL

By CJ Preity Kapoor in Shimla

While ‘khap panchayats’ (caste councils) in Haryana continue to frown on inter-caste and sub-caste marriages and punish those who do so, marrying outside one’s caste is ever so profitable in neighbouring Himachal Pradesh – it’ll get couples all of Rs 75,000.

To prompt young men and women to break the caste barrier, the cabinet headed by Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh has enhanced the inter-caste marriage incentive from Rs 25,000 to Rs 75,000. It’s given to couples where one of the spouses belongs to a Scheduled Caste.

'ARUNACHAL' TOPS IN HANDLING 'CHILD NUTRITION'

By M H Ahssan / New Delhi

The problem is likely to be less severe than UN statistics indicate, given faulty yardsticks. If asked to name the state with the lowest incidence of child malnutrition in India, readers will overwhelmingly pick one of Kerala, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Punjab or West Bengal. But they will all be wrong by a wide margin: none of these states appears among even the top five performers. 

NEGLECTING FORESTS - 7 : TRICKS OF DIMINISHING RETURNS

From INN Team

The concept of JFM is alluring enough to keep people engaged in conservation for years. But when it comes to sharing the fruits it is a practical joke. For every hundred rupees earned from timber sale a JFM committee usually gets only Rs 17.5 in cash, thanks to the forest department’s talent for developing a benefit-sharing formula guaranteed to deliver skewed results.

CHINA'S INTRUSION: WHAT WILL INDIA DO NEXT?

By M H Ahssan / New Delhi

Late on the night of 19 October 1962, Chinese artillery began pounding five Indian posts perched to the east of India’s northern-most military base, Daulat Beg Oldi.  Faced with impossible odds, the men held out for three days—and then, fought their way back along the track towards the base.

DEADLY 'PARTY DRUGS' IS NEW CRAZE IN DELHI

By Kajol Singh / New Delhi

India's capital hits a new high as seizure of party drugs such as ecstasy and speed shows a fivefold increase. Delhi's party circuit is perched high on cloud amphetamine. The Capital has emerged as a major supplier of pseudoephedrine, the key raw material for manufacturing Amphetamine Type Stimulant ( ATS), whose variants are popularly known as ecstasy, speed, base and ice in party drug circles.