Monsoon Session Agenda Of Political Parties Leaked

By Paagal Patrkaar / Delhi

With the Monsoon Session of the Parliament beginning today, Faking News has exclusive access to the strategies of various political parties through its secret sources.

Let’s take a snapshot of the strategies planned by each political party:

Congress
1. Full meal for Rs. 5 and Rs. 12
2. Is Tunch Maal unparliamentary?
3. How to prevent natural calamities from happening when Rahul Baba is out of country.

In India, 3626 Villages Named On Ram, 3309 After Krishna

By Kajol Singh / INN Bureau

What's in a name, or two, or 6,77,459? In the case of India's villages, that list tells us they love gods, goddesses, nation builders and mythologies above all else, and that, when they migrate, they often take the name of their place of origin with them.

INN went through the names of all 6,77,459, inhabited and uninhabited, villages in India, as listed in Census 2011 — data for which was released recently. Lord Ram ranks way up there, with 3,626 villages named after him, in almost all parts of the country except Kerala, while Lord Krishna is a close second at 3,309.

Politicians Protest As 'Aerial Surveys' Hampered By Victims

By Kishwarnath Dubey / Delhi

Politicians from various parties have come together at Dehradun airport to protest against the excessive use of helicopters by the stranded pilgrims in Uttarakhand. These politicians are upset that their aerial surveys of the flood-hit Uttarakhand state have been frequently canceled because the helicopters were not free.

Speaking to INN, a representative of the politicians said, “See, these aerial surveys are very important to maintain the secular fabric of the country and we haven’t been able to put in as many surveys as we want because the helicopters are always busy.

A flying road for Asia's embattled elephants

By Raja Murthy

Raja, a 19-year-old elephant with grimy ivory tusks, sways morosely from side to side while standing chained under an asbestos-roofed shed in the Rajaji National Park, a last major refuge of the Asiatic elephant roaming the Himalayan foothills in eastern India.

An air of torment surrounds young Raja, even as he fussily picks at his late morning snack of sugar cane, part of the 200 kilograms of vegetarian food and 100 liters of water that the elephant needs as its daily diet.

"Raja is moody, troubled and often angry," elephant keeper Riyas Khan explained to me on a cloudy Tuesday morning. "He cannot be trusted with people, and is often disturbed."

Raja has every reason to be disturbed. He was part of a family of six wild elephants struck in a train accident seven years ago on the rail track cutting through the wildlife reserve. Raja was the sole survivor. Forest officials rescued the baby orphan, and he lives with two other rescued and now tamed young elephants adjacent to the Rajaji National Park entrance gate.

To prevent similar tragedies from harming the Asiatic elephant, among the 5,000 endangered species struggling to survive in a human-dominated planet, India's wildlife and national highway officials are planning the world's first exclusive flyover for elephants.

The proposed US$13 million flyover across the Rajaji National Park would prevent elephant deaths, say senior Forest Department officials, a frequent tragedy as elephants cross the highway and railway track running through the wildlife reserve or run into the traffic between the nearby pilgrim towns of Haridwar and Rishikesh.

The flyover will feature two corridors, each 1.2 kilometers long and 100 meters wide, and is expected to be ready in nine months, soon after India's Supreme Court consents to the plan from the National Highway Authorities of India.

The jumbo flyover is another step towards saving the Asiatic elephant, scientifically called Elephas Maximus, whose current population is estimated to be only around 45,000, compared to 600,000 African elephants.

Even though the larger African elephant population has also dramatically shrunk from about five million between the 1930s and 1940s, wildlife conservationists say the African jumbo (Loxodonta Africana) does not face the threat of extinction as seriously as its smaller Asian cousin.

Possible dangers include poachers murdering elephants for their ivory, which sells in the illegal market for US$1,000 a tusk. Elephants also run into conflict with encroaching villagers across eastern India, from Uttarakhand to Chattisgarh and Assam states. It's a violent, vicious cycle with fatalities on both sides.

Villagers complain of elephants ravaging their crops and fields, and the jumbos are angry at having their traditional habitat invaded by humans. Electric fences, as well as frightened villagers lighting fires and beating drums to scare away elephants at night, have limited success.

India's elephant flyover could bring greater peace to the Rajaji National Park area that covers the three districts of Dehradun, Haridwar and Pauri Garhwal of Uttarakhand state.

An estimated 26,000 Asiatic elephants can be found across India, while a possible equal and shrinking number roam in forests and sanctuaries in Thailand, Nepal, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and Bangladesh.

From my base in the pleasant Green Hills Cottage in Rishikesh, I ventured to explore the terrain of the world's first elephant flyover to help save the Asiatic elephant.

India's Rajaji National Park is one of 24 major wildlife reserves in India. Just as the Corbett National Park, 225kms away, is famous for its tiger population, this reserve is known for its high Asiatic elephant population. The 825 square kilometer area also houses 23 other mammal species including tigers, leopards and the Himalayan bear, as well as 315 bird species.

The 25-year-old Rajaji National Park, named after independent India's second governor-general, Chakravarti Rajagopalachari (1878-1972), reflects the urgency to preserve the Asiatic elephant. In fact, the reserve has 10 million-year-old fossils of 50 species of elephants. Only one of those 50 elephant species now survives as the Asiatic elephant.

I took the 19km route to the Rajaji National Park entrance near Haridwar, one of the oldest living cities of the world. Next year, over 3 million pilgrims will take the same road as part of the Kumbh Mela, an ancient religious gathering of millions held every three years, when pilgrims take a ritualistic dip in the river Ganges.

An estimated 3 million people would be trampling along the Haridwar-Rishikesh road during the next Kumbh Mela in 2010, and the elephant flyover hopes to avoid conflict during this mass human-elephant movement.

The busy Haridwar-Rishikesh road can produce surprises, from Western renunciates on motorbikes to, as on this day, a white-haired, saffron-robed ascetic carrying a white cloth bag with a picture of Tarzan emblazoned on it - the lord of the African jungles posing in his legendary chest-thumping battle cry "Kreegah! Tarzan Bundalo!"

"Wild elephants cause a lot of trouble on the road at night," said the driver of the shared tempo-rickshaw I took for part of the journey, from under his cap with "Harley Davidson" emblazoned on it.

At the Haridwar Dam checkpoint guarding the restricted bypass road to the Rajaji National Park, forest guard Anil Aryan expressed his approval of the elephant flyover. "It's very necessary," he said, sporting a jacket with “Pierre Cardin” emblazoned on the back. "The flyovers would help the approximate 3,700 elephants living here, as well as elephant deaths from railway accidents."

After buying a cup of tea brewed over a wood fire, I chose to walk to the Rajaji National Park 3.5km away, instead of waiting for transport. The peace and quiet of the lonely forest road was broken only by bird song, the drone of insects and the occasional vehicle or cyclist passing by.

A wooden-barricaded check-post announced my arrival at the Rajaji National Park, with a small cluster of buildings at the entrance, including a reception area selling entrance tickets, a canteen, a few ramshackle staff residences and a deserted forest guest house.

A few jeep drivers offering $17 safari-rides milled about. The $4 two-hour elephant ride into the reserve was stopped when the beloved 70-year-old female elephant Arundhati died in 2007, after fracturing her leg.

"Business is slow, even though this is the tourist season," said Suresh Chand, who told me he has been a private guide here for 14 years. "Fewer Western tourists arrived after the November 26 terrorist strikes in Mumbai. Usually we see many Americans."

The moody elephant Raja and his two companions instantly attract a group of five tourists from France, particularly the nine-year-old baby elephant Yogi who was rescued when found wandering alone lost in the neighboring forests.

Unlike the perhaps misunderstood Raja struggling to come to terms with seeing his family slaughtered by a train, Yogi is a friendly fellow who amiably offers his little trunk for “handshakes” with anyone coming near him. Feeling Yogi's strong, playful jab gives one an idea of the awesome power of an adult elephant's trunk that can lift 250kgs of weight.

"Yogi is fully trained," explained elephant keeper Riyas Khan. "But Mamta [the 17-year-old third elephant, also rescued as a baby after being found alone in the forest] is a lazy one. She is stubborn, won't listen to anyone and won't do any work."

Raja, Mamta and the baby elephant Yogi, who gloriously ignore each other, represent a 60 million-year history of elephants, compared to our merely 300,000-year-old modern human story.

Local mourning over Arudhati's death played a role in reviving the elephant's standing as a revered species across Asia. Vinaya (V 1:337-357) of the Tipitaka, the Pali language record of the Buddha's teachings, narrates how the elephant Parileyyaka looked after the Buddha, fetching him wild fruits and water during the Enlightened One's solitary stay in the Parileyya forest during the monsoon of the 45th year of his life.

Colorful annual elephant festivals are celebrated in many Asian countries, such as "Thrissur Pooram" in Kerala state and the Jaipur Elephant festival in India, the ElefantAsia in Laos, Surin Elephant festival in Thailand and the Kandy Elephant festival in Sri Lanka. The elephant-headed boy god Ganesha is the most popular deity in India's financial capital Mumbai.

Asiatic elephants can also be clever artists. In 2000, the National Elephant Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand established the Elephant Art Gallery, which displays paintings made by elephants using brush, paint and canvas without any human aid.

Celebrity elephant artists such as Japatee, donated as a baby elephant by the Jerusalem Zoo and with a Thai nickname Phlai Ngam meaning "Beautiful Tusks", does abstract art, while the 16-year-old playful elephant Jojo, ranked among the top three of the 14 artistic jumbos in Thailand, has had his paintings sold for thousands of dollars in international art auctions. His recent artworks include "Angels will Prevail" that sold for $397 and "Colorful Illusion" that sold for $369.

According to his biographical note, "Jojo is also an accomplished musician, who plays both the xylophone and the mouth organ, which he blows with his trunk."

Raja, who when as a fully grown Asian bull elephant could be 10 feet tall, weigh five tons and live to age 60, can be a useful worker, if not a temperamental artist or musician. World Wildlife Fund, a leading global conservation group, points out that domesticated elephants are used in South and Southeast Asia in rugged forestry work, including anti-poaching patrolling.

Riyas Khan, who says his family has trained elephants for many generations, also approves of the elephant flyover. "It would be a wonderful development for elephants, killed in many numbers in the railway tracks.”

The two elevated elephant flyovers, each 300 meters wide at the entrances and 600 meters apart, will rise at a gradual slope. The concrete side walls will be lined with local trees and foliage, to ensure elephants feel at home while using the flyovers for safe forest crossings.

That elephants in the region are troubled became more evident during the 40km safari ride I took into the striking terrain of the Rajaji National Park, through an impressive mixture of open savannah-grasslands, dry river beds that become gushing torrents during monsoon rains, streams and woodland brooks, sal forests in lowlands and higher altitude pine forests.

As the cloudy afternoon gave way to a cold, rainy evening, a family of three elephants rushed to and fro erratically through the forest in the murky gloom, their trumpeting sounding similar to the forlorn cry of the movie dinosaurs in Steven Spielberg's Jurassic Park series.

One trumpeting elephant suddenly charged out of the darkening forest into the dusty path of the safari jeep. It had either remembered an urgent appointment across the path, or was attacking the visitors. The driver Aleem Ali stepped on the accelerator and sped away. The sudden sight of a fast charging wild elephant is not for the faint-hearted. "If the elephant appears right ahead on the road facing the vehicle, there is not much chance of escape," said Aleem.

Yet the Rajaji National Park, protecting elephants and other species from receiving a Jurassic Park fate, has moments of peace as well. "Sometimes we see a herd of about 40 elephants quietly moving together," said Aleem Ali. His elder brother Liaquat had earlier mentioned once seeing an elephant and a tiger standing peacefully side by side, watching the watchers go by.

The world's first elephant flyovers will promote wildlife and human harmony. "Even the smaller animals like leopards would be able to use the flyovers," said guide Suresh Chand. "Two days ago, we saw a leopard come here near the gate at around 4:00pm. Wild elephants often come here at night." The elephant flyover hopes to end such unexpected sightings, and the fear leading to violence among species.

When Will Indian Politics Wake Up To 'Climate Change'?

By Aditi Kapoor (Guest Writer)

IN FOCUS Initiatives that do not factor in climate resilience and related gender concerns cannot address development challenges, but the manner in which state-level climate action plans are being implemented shows these are yet to become electoral planks. 

The Uttarakhand floods and Cyclone Phailin, which ravaged the coast of Odisha and Andhra Pradesh in 2013, have illustrated how the effects of climate change can erode development gains, greatly impacting the lives of the poor, especially women.

Focus: Crisis For India's Orphans As Adoption Is Being Abandoned By Parents And Neglected By Government

Abandoned by their parents and now neglected by governments — there is no end to the suffering of over 50,000 orphans in India. 

The adoption rate within the country as well as those by foreign nationals in India has gone down by nearly 50 per cent in the last five years. 

What adds to the grim situation is the disparity between South Indian states and the rest of the country in terms of adoption of children. 

Uttr'khd: Why Growth Argument Will Crush Eco-Concerns?

By Akshaya Mishra / Dehradun

Was the calamity in Uttarakhand man-made? The debate, as is the case in all such debates, would remain inconclusive. Champions of growth would jump to the defence of the mushrooming hydro-power projects on the rivers across the state, claiming, the harm to the environment is a collateral damage mankind has to bear if it’s serious about energy security and industrial progress. The other side would whine about the long-term impact of the mindless manipulation of the fragile mountain range on the people and the eco-system. They would keep reminding that thousands of human lives is too a big price to pay for any initiative for future good.

Nepal Earthquake Isn't The Big: Next 'Quake' Maybe More Dangerous And Closer To Home! - World Geo Experts

EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE: Even as the death toll from the 7.9 magnitude earthquake climbs to over 10,000 and stunned survivors struggle to come to terms with the magnitude of the disaster, experts say the worst is yet to come. 

The quake, which reduced large parts of Kathmandu to rubble, is not the 'great Himalayan quake' that the region has been bracing for. All has to get ready for the worst in the near future, world geo-experts warned.

A Man to Match his Mountains

Chandi Prasad Bhatt said that for him every river was a Ganga, a source of life and renewal, abused or ill-treated at one's peril. His work has been an education for others, writes RAMCHANDRA GUHA.

The importance of the India International Centre in New Delhi is gauged, in part, by the number of armed security men who pass through its portals. These come to accompany - and, one supposes, protect - the big shots, the fat cats, the ministers and MPs and ambassadors and generals who wish to be seen at a place located, in every sense, at the centre of power and influence. These dignitaries come to 'dignify' the talks and seminars and book releases that the IIC plays host to through the year.

 

Whether substantive or ceremonial, these meetings at the IIC are almost always in English. Very occasionally, however, one hears a talk in Hindi. Such was the case when the writer, Nirmal Varma, and the philosopher, Ramchandra Gandhi, were alive; both were regulars at the IIC bar and at the IIC's lecture podium. The memory of Ramu and Nirmal, of the exquisite Hindi they spoke and of the lack of ceremony that accompanied them, were revived in a function held recently in the IIC's auditorium.

The function was ostensibly a book release, to mark the appearance in print of a work entitled Parvat Parvat Basti Basti. But it turned into a celebration of the book's author, the great pioneering environmentalist, Chandi Prasad Bhatt. Bhatt is best known for having been (in the words of his fellow Gandhian from Garhwal, Sunderlal Bahuguna) the mukhya sanchalak, or chief organizer, of the Chipko movement. As the first major environmental initiative of the poor, the influence and impact of Chipko has resonated down the decades and across the oceans.

Yet Chandi Prasad Bhatt was, or is, more than the founder of Chipko. His contributions have been manifold. He both opposed deforestation and promoted afforestation, motivating women to revegetate hillsides made barren by the careless hand of man. He initiated producers' co-operatives, generating off-farm employment for peasants excessively dependent on the monsoon. He inspired young men and women in Uttarakhand, and beyond, to devote themselves to a life of service. All through, he has displayed a complete indifference to fame or monetary reward. In contemporary India, few people exemplify the Gandhian ideal of disinterested service as nobly as Chandi Prasad Bhatt.

That day at the IIC, Bhatt's example was spoken of by scholars and activists who had the privilege of knowing him over the years. The first speaker was the respected environmental writer, Anupam Mishra. Many decades before the publication of Parvat Parvat Basti Basti, said Mishra, Chandi Prasad Bhatt wrote a book which contained only one word with three syllables - Chipko. When Chipko started, in 1973, there were no 24/7 news channels. Even newspapers took three or four days to reach the interior of Garhwal. And yet the message of Chipko rapidly spread. The book of one word with three syllables written by Bhatt was to be inscribed across the hills and valleys of the Himalaya, across India, and across the world.

Mishra was followed by Ramesh Pahadi, a senior journalist based in Garhwal. Bhatt, said Pahadi, was generally praised for his work in the environmental field. Few knew, however, that he was a radical social reformer from long before he founded the Chipko movement. Born in an upper-caste home, into a family of temple priests, Bhatt was the first Brahmin in the locality to speak with and eat with Dalits.

The next speaker, Sunita Narain of the Centre for Science and Environment, recalled how she met Chandi Prasad Bhatt through her colleague, Anil Agarwal. Chandi Prasad taught Agarwal (and others) that Chipko was not just a fight for protecting forests and environment, but a struggle for protecting and renewing livelihoods. It was a fight for social dignity, and for political emancipation. The call of Chipko, said Sunita Narain, was relevant to the environmental and social conflicts of the present day, those stoked by controversial projects such as Posco and Vedanta.

In medieval times, Chandi Prasad Bhatt's native state of Uttarakhand was divided into the rival chiefdoms of Garhwal and Kumaun. Himself from Garhwal, Bhatt has had an enduring influence on the other side, as narrated by the celebrated Kumauni historian, Shekhar Pathak. In 1977, Pathak was jailed for his part in a student protest; not long after his release, Bhatt came knocking on his door. The younger man was then a Marxist firebrand, and suspicious of Gandhian social workers. He was quickly won over by Bhatt, who inspired him to set up a collective project of research and documentation that, in the years since, has produced a stream of valuable and often authoritative books and reports on the state - social and natural - of the Himalaya.

Pathak was taught by Bhatt to think of the Himalaya as being more than Mount Everest and Nanda Devi. The Himalaya was also the smaller peaks and hills, and the valleys and hills in between. In the same manner, Bhatt told his younger colleagues that the cadres and silent workers in a social movement were as important as the leaders. Pathak also spoke of Bhatt's wider, pan-Indian vision, as in his travels through Bastar in 1987, which resulted in a precocious warning, outlined in a long letter to the then prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi, that Maoists would gain in influence if tribal concerns were not attended to forthwith.

After his admirers had spoken, Bhatt was given the right of reply. He had, he said, been taught in the Sarvodaya movement that among the things to eschew, apart from drinks, drugs and so on, was the hearing of self-praise. Known now for founding a globally famous social movement, Bhatt recalled his first struggle, back in the late 1950s, which was to stop bus companies in Garhwal from extorting higher rates from pilgrims.

The conductors and drivers knew which passenger was from Garhwal and who was from the plains. The former were charged the standard rate; the latter, double or triple that. When Bhatt and his colleagues tried to stop this practice - or malpractice - the bus owners asked, why are you complaining, these passengers are from Kerala and Rajasthan, not from here. This then was his first struggle, a local and unglamorous struggle, albeit a struggle emphasizing his capacious, pan-Indian vision.

Parvat Parvat Basti Basti collects Bhatt's essays over four decades. There are essays here on Bastar, the Godavari basin, Arunachal, Kashmir, and the Andamans. There are accounts of his visits to Latur and Gujarat after the earthquakes in those places. These essays display his deep understanding of society and nature, and of the threats posed by more powerful interests to the lifestyles and environments of rural communities.

Speaking at the IIC, Bhatt said that for him every river was a Ganga, a source of life and renewal, abused or ill-treated at one's peril. His travels around India were for him the work of education (shiksha ka kaam). His own work has been an education for others. For in his own quiet, understated way, Chandi Prasad Bhatt has had a deep influence on very many scientists, scholars, journalists, forest officials, and, not least, younger social workers.

I myself first met Chandi Prasad Bhatt exactly 30 years ago. My encounters with him, and my studies of his work, have had a profound impact on my intellectual evolution. Because of what Bhatt has done, and because of what people like Bhatt (not least his namesake Ela of Ahmedabad) can do, I do not despair altogether of my country. Because of them I think India can, with the steady, patient work of selfless reformers, yet be made a nicer, or at least less brutal, place.

My own regard for Chandi Prasadji is conveyed in one simple fact - that when he calls and I recognize his number on my cell phone, I stand up immediately. I live in Bangalore, and he speaks from Garhwal. My gesture, a reflex action really, speaks of my reverence for him; as probably the most noble Indian I have known, and, with the exception only of the late Shivarama Karanth, also the most remarkable.

Special Report: How Uttarakhand Dug Its Own Grave?

By M H Ahssan / Hyderabad

On the afternoon of 16 June, local resident Manav Bisht watched dozens of constables leaving the paramilitary Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) Academy, which stood between his house in Shakti Vihar, a locality in Uttarakhand’s Srinagar town, and the Alaknanda river that had started swelling from 10 am. The waters threatened to enter the academy building after 5 pm and more jawans were shifted to Pauri, the district headquarters.

SSB IG S Bandhopadhyay was aware of the torrential rainfall up in the hills. There was also the flood warning issued by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD). As night fell, the Alaknanda breached the meagre embankment and ravaged the academy building. Sometime after midnight, after drowning the 500-metre stretch of the SSB campus, the torrent rose above the 10-feet-high boundary wall on the other side and entered Shakti Vihar.

Yamuna Dam Raises Flood Fears In Delhi: 'Lakhwar-Vyasi Project Could Have 'Catastrophic' Consequences'

While the ravages caused by floods in Uttarakhand and more recently in Kashmir still haunt the nation, the central government has decided to execute the Lakhwar-Vyasi hydroelectric project in the Yamuna valley.

It is feared the project could have catastrophic consequences for the national capital.

Environmentalists warn that apart from the eastern, northeastern and western parts of Delhi, the south of the city may also be under water in the event of a flood. 

Uttarkhand Devastation: Thousands Dead And Counting...

By Kalpana Sharma / Dehradun

It would be in tens of thousands. The horror stories are flooding in. The Dev Bhoomi where pilgrims pray for moksh is a mass graveyard after the flash floods erupted in Uttarakhand on June 16th. Injured survivors wait to be spotted as the Indian Army rescue mission covering over 40,000sqkm—the largest in history—continues. Dogs and vultures feast on the dead in Rudraprayag. They do not leave the wounded and alive either. Human predators abound: armed men loot survivors.

Small States A 'Political Stunt' Without Decentralisation

By Shankkar Aiyar (Guest Writer)

India seems to produce a political paradox almost every week. Indians were told that overall poverty levels fell from 37 per cent in 2004-05 to 21.9 per cent in 2011-12. This did not trigger any review of the idea to give 67 per cent of the population subsidised grains. The chasm between statistics and political arithmetic persists.

Hidden in the reams of data on poverty reduction is an interesting fact. United Andhra Pradesh is among those states which brought down poverty the most. Since 2004, when K Chandrashekar Rao of the Telangana Rashtra Samiti was promised Telangana, poverty in united Andhra Pradesh dropped from 29.6 per cent to 9.2 per cent in 2011-12. And the absolute number of those below poverty line has come down from 235 lakh to 78 lakh. World over, poverty reduction is an accepted indicator of growth and governance.

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.

Insight: Is Vijay Bahuguna In Control On Uttarakhand?

By Sanjay Singh / Delhi

Sushma Swaraj’s tweet pointing fingers at Uttrakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna’s efficiency or lack of it in rising to the occasion may have sparked off a heated exchange between the Congress and the BJP, first on the Twitter and then through verbal bites, but there are many in the ruling party who share the feelings of the Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha.

Why Need Catastrophe Bonds For Utt'khand Flood Losses?

By S Murlidharan (Guest Writer)

The Americans have a pat solution, bordering on panacea, for almost all problems: insurance.  Obamacare, the universal medical access scheme, is rooted in health insurance for all citizens, with the rich subsidising the poor. There is credit default insurance to guard against the possibility of bond issuers reneging on their promise to pay coupons or redeeming the bonds on maturity.

Before Nirbhaya, It Was Kiran Negi Ignored By Media Hype

By Suhasi Pandya | INN Live

A 19-year-old girl was abducted from Delhi, gangraped and brutalised. She bled to death over three days in the mustard fields of a Haryana village. INN Live supports on her parents’ struggle for justice.

On a rainy winter afternoon, clusters of protesters are scattered across the streets near Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. The cacophony of slogans raised for various causes almost drowns out the cries of a father seeking justice for his daughter. Sitting on a pavement with downcast eyes, Kunwar Singh Negi, 52, recounts the horrific details of the night his eldest daughter was abducted, brutally gangraped and left to die in a mustard field in a village in Haryana.

How Indian Ecologists Are Finding Secret Treasures Hidden In The Canopies Of Trees In Western Ghats?

By NEWSCOP | INNLIVE

In the Western Ghats, a bunch of intrepid researchers are climbing up trees to peek into an unexplored world. Walking into a forest is probably one of the most immersive ecological experiences. It isn’t like walking into any other landscape like a mountain or a desert, both of which introduce their marvels at a deliberate pace. When you step into a forest, it is almost as if the edge zips shut behind you. The trees sieve the bright sunlight into twinkling stars, the soggy ground softens your step and the foliage pushes against the world outside.

The Telangana Muddle, 'Andhra Pradesh' Ego Is On Stake!

By Rubia Akbar / INN Live

The UPA government has taken a final call to divvy up Andhra Pradesh and carve out a Telangana state. Now it is incumbent on the central government to take every measure possible to buffer the ill-effects of bifurcation. The nitty-gritty of it is, without doubt, quite awesome. It goes without saying that the division of the water, power and mineral resources should be to a tee and beyond reproach.

True, the UPA government had been vegetating on the issue ever since its decision to demerge Andhra Pradesh in 2009 and, when it has initiated the process, it has botched the whole thing up pretty much comprehensively. 

A NEW SOLAR POWER MODEL MAKES HOPE ON 'NEW POWER'

By Udit Misra / Lucknow

OMC’s model of supplying solar lamps to homes and solar power to telecom towers in rural UP looks like a bright idea. But can it keep it shining?

For as long as he can remember, Mohammad Fahim’s life was ruled by the sun. The 25-year-old artisan from Meer Nagar village in Uttar Pradesh’s Hardoi district, and his family—parents and five siblings—would tirelessly embroider exquisite designs with zari on fabric, for which neighbouring Lucknow is renowned. Their work-day would begin at sunrise and end at sunset; a phenomenon common to most of the 90 households in Meer Nagar.