India's Model Villages: Why Modi's Pet Rural Development Scheme Is Not Working Properly?

By REX KUMAR | INNLIVE

Only 53 of 278 BJP MPs in the Lok Sabha have selected new villages in phase two of the scheme.

Close to two years after its launch, there seem to be few takers among parliamentarians for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's flagship rural development scheme, the Saansad Adarsh Gram Yojana, which aimed to develop at least three “model villages” in each parliamentary constituency by 2019. 

Soon after the launch of the scheme in October 2014, 701 of total 795 ruling and opposition MPs had adopted a village each to be developed over two years.

The Divine Mayawati: Why Do Women Leaders Need To Be Goddesses?

By ARUN SHAH | INNLIVE

Or, at the very least, a friendly female relation who cannot be desired?

“To the backward classes, I am a devi. They are angry,” said Bahujan Samaj Party chief Mayawati on Thursday.

A day before that, Bharatiya Janata Party leader Dayashankar Singh had compared her to a “prostitute”, giving rise to demonstrations by activists and supporters in Lucknow.

Shocking Revolution: India’s Dalits Strike Back At Centuries Of Oppression By Letting Dead Cows Rot On The Streets

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

India’s growing band of cow-protection vigilantes and their political bosses may have learnt a lesson in the past few days: Bullying can boomerang.

Politics over the cow, deemed holy by many Hindus, has roiled India for years. In recent times, it has turned nasty, with Indians lynching or humiliating fellow Indians on mere suspicion of having killed cows or eaten beef.

In the latest instance, four young men skinning a dead cow, along with another aged person, were mercilessly thrashed by a group of cow-protection vigilantes in Gujarat’s Una on July 11.

Human-Animal Conflict: Is Humans Saving A Goat From Python, A Case Of Undue Interference With Nature?

By SHEENA SHAFIA | INNLIVE

The incident took place near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary in Uttar Pradesh. 

The incident depicted in the video above took place in Uttar Pradesh near the Katarniaghat Wildlife Sanctuary, which is a protected area. A huge python tried to crush and swallow a goat whole while a group of villagers attempted, and eventually succeeded with, a rescue.

'RSS Shakha' Numbers On The Rise: Is This Reflective Of Its Growing Acceptance?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Is the sudden spurt in the number of Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS)shakhas due to its improving ideological acceptance among the masses or due to the fact that BJP is in power at the Centre?

The RSS, BJP's ideological mentor, has witnessed a phenomenal expansion in the number of its shakhas (units) across the country in the last six years - from 45,000 in 2010 to over 57,000 as of today.

Where Healthcare Comes Floating On A Boat Once In A Month

By UMANG KUMAR | INNLIVE

For millions on Brahmaputra’s shifting islands, the only source of health services are boat clinics.

It had been raining all morning but Debika Mikum was still waiting. About a dozen women stood with her, huddled under their umbrellas.

Actor & Politician Raj Babbar Appointed As A New Congress Chief In Uttar Pradesh: A Close Look At His Political Career

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

Fortune favours the brave, goes the adage. And how befitting it is to veteran actor Raj Babbar, who was appointed as the Congress chief of Uttar Pradesh, ahead of the state's Assembly polls in 2017. Not too long ago, Babbar was a star campaigner in the Assam Assembly election this year, which saw the end of the 15-year-old rule of former chief minister Tarun Gogoi, making way for the first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in North East India.

Indian Muslim Clerics Unite Against Ace Televangelist Dr. Zakir Naik

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Sunni and Shia clerics demand a ban on Naik’s TV channel, books and online lectures for misinterpreting the Quran and misleading Muslims.

Ace Islamic televangelist Zakir Naik claims to be a messenger of peace and harmony. Through his channel, Peace TV, he broadcasts his messages to around 200 million people across India and the world.

Exclusive: The Indian Al Qaeda Cell That Dodged Spooks For 20 Years: Police Charge-Sheet Reveals Secret Terror Module Knew About IC-814 Plane Hijacking And Met 26/11 Mumbai Attack Plotters

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

An arrested member of al Qaeda's India wing has been in touch with Pakistani jihadi outfits since the mid-1990s, and was aware of Jaish-e-Mohammed's plan to free terrorist leader Maulana Masood Azhar from jail, a Delhi Police charge-sheet says. The operative, Mohammed Abdul Rehman, was told by a Pakistani terrorist in 1999 that 10 JeM members were in Nepal, ready to strike to secure Azhar's release. Intelligence agencies remained clueless about Rehman and several others like him, who had a free run for nearly two decades. Giving Indian sleuths the slip, they travelled to Pakistan for terror training, returned, and got involved in radicalising and influencing youths for jihad.

Exclusive: The Indian Al Qaeda Cell That Dodged Spooks For 20 Years: Police Charge-Sheet Reveals Secret Terror Module Knew About IC-814 Plane Hijacking And Met 26/11 Mumbai Attack Plotters

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

An arrested member of al Qaeda's India wing has been in touch with Pakistani jihadi outfits since the mid-1990s, and was aware of Jaish-e-Mohammed's plan to free terrorist leader Maulana Masood Azhar from jail, a Delhi Police charge-sheet says. The operative, Mohammed Abdul Rehman, was told by a Pakistani terrorist in 1999 that 10 JeM members were in Nepal, ready to strike to secure Azhar's release. Intelligence agencies remained clueless about Rehman and several others like him, who had a free run for nearly two decades. Giving Indian sleuths the slip, they travelled to Pakistan for terror training, returned, and got involved in radicalising and influencing youths for jihad.

Analysis: Cabinet Reshuffle Is Aimed At UP Polls, But What If It Backfires?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Recent Union Cabinet reshuffle - or 'expansion' as Prime Minister Narendra Modi likes to call it - threw up many clues for the poll-bound Uttar Pradesh.

Election analysts and poll pundits have already called the latest change in Modi's Council of Ministers an act of balancing caste and regional equations. Tuesday's expansion of the Union Cabinet is being touted as Modi's biggest political moves since he acquired the top office since May 2014.

The Great Fall & Demotion: Two “Eventful” Years On, India’s Education Minister Shunted From Textbooks To Textiles

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

Smriti Irani, India’s education minister, has been shunted from textbooks to textiles—her new ministry. The move was part of a cabinet reshuffle announced late on Tuesday (July 5) by prime minister Narendra Modi’s government. Environment minister Prakash Javadekar will replace Irani.

The move was so unexpected that The Times of India newspaper called it a “shocker.” The fact that Modi had earlier this week hinted that there would be no reshuffle but just an expansion only added to the intrigue.

Cabinet Reshuffle Has Nothing To Do With Merit: Insider's Guide On How To Become A 'Mantri' In India?

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

So, you think getting a Cabinet berth in India has something to do with merit and competence? Here is an insider's guide on how to become a mantri in India.

On Monday, as news of veteran politician Sanwarlal Jat's imminent exit from Narendra Modi's team reached his home state Rajasthan, the local BJP worked itself into a caste convulsion.

Modi's Cabinet Reshuffle: With 'Big Four' Immune, Will The Exercise Be Purely Cosmetic?.

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE

With eyes on Uttar Pradesh assembly elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet reshuffle on July 5,  is expected to factor in the BJP's political strategy in Uttar Pradesh. Some new ministers will take oath at about 11 am at the Rashtrapati Bhavan and sources told INNLIVEat least two more faces from Uttar Pradesh may join the Cabinet.

The Forgotten Story Of Hashimpura, May 22, 1987: One Of India’s Biggest 'Custodial Killings'

By M H AHSSAN | INNLIVE 

‘PAC personnel had rounded up dozens of Muslims from riot-torn Meerut and had killed them in cold blood.’

Time heals, indeed, but sometimes it drags some dark nightmares from the recesses of our past into the present; nightmares whose repercussions are felt in the future too. Still weighing heavy on my conscience is that horrifying night of 22 May in the humid summer of 1987. And the subsequent days, similarly, are etched in my memory like as if on stone – it was something that overpowered the cop in me. The Hashimpura experience continues to torment me.

Religion In Politics: With RSS Hosting Iftar Parties, Is Pseudo-Secularism Acceptable?

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

In today’s climate of majoritarianism, tokenism may actually play a helpful role, allowing embattled Muslims to feel more politically secure.

In the 1980s, Lal Krishna Advani coined the term “pseudo-secularism” to describe what he believed was tokenism towards members of India's minority communities. When he did so, he had no idea that one day, the Hindutva mothership, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, would itself dabble in the practice.

'Rent-A-Riot' Leaders Exposed In UP: Chilling Sting Operation Politicians From Across Parties Agreeing To Stage Religious Violence For 5 Lakh

By ASISH KUMAR | INNLIVE

The sight of vigilante groups mounting violent attacks in the name of faith is becoming unpleasantly routine across India. Deadly riots are sparked by hate speech, delivered at rallies or spread on social media.  

But a rare investigation carried out by Indian Today TV has established that not all the bloodshed that happens over religion is spontaneous.

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.

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.

Hyderabad's 'Salafi-Barelwi' Tussle Needs To Be Contained Before It Turns Into Conflict

By SYED MOHAMMED | INNLIVE

The rift between two Muslim groups in the city - the Jamiat-e-Ahl-e-Hadith (AH) and the Ahl-e-Sunnat ul Jamaat (ASJ) - has come out in the open. A series of incidents in a little over two years has ensured this.

The latest was the tussle between adherents the AH, popularly known as Salafis, described as hardline with their rigid interpretation of the texts, and the ASJ, or, Barelwis also known as Sufis, earlier this month when there were protests against AH preacher Jarjees Ansari outside a mosque in Santosh Nagar. The trend is worrisome for it took place in Ramzan. If not contained, the problem could snowball into a full blown conflict, reminiscent of the sectarian strife as seen in Pakistan.