INN Special Coverage On 'India's Most Safest Temples'

By INN News Trackers

Many of India’s temple tragedies have been attributed to poor crowd management on the part of the local authorities. INN Live picked 20 important temples where these incidents have not been heard of. Our bureaus checked these places of worship for their preparedness, but we have featured only 10 of them here. Temples such as Akshardham (Ahmedabad), Sreenathji, Nathdwara (Rajasthan), Vaidyanath (Deoghar, Jharkhand), Ramantha Swamy, Rameswaram (Tamil Nadu), Srikrishna, Udupi (Karnataka), Sri Ranganathaswamy, Srirangam (Tamil Nadu) and Kalighat Kali (Kolkata) appear to have their effective crowd management apparatus in place.

Why Cyclone Phailin Failed?: Political Planets 'Wrong Acts'

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

After a long, long time it seems as if we have got our disaster management act right with Odisha’s Phailin cyclone. Loss of life was in the low 20s, thanks to the proactiveness with which the Naveen Patnaik administration moved people out of harm’s way and thanks also to the support of the centre in terms of logistics and rescue operations. 

'World’s Most Vulnerable Coast Is Still The Least Prepared'

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

The 1999 super-cyclone killed more than 10,000 people in Odisha. So far, cyclone Phailin’s death toll is yet to reach double digits. While the wind speed turned out to be less severe than feared, the state evacuated nearly nine lakh people, in three days. Remarkable feat, yes, but this does not tell the entire story.

After it was caught hopelessly unprepared in 1999, the state set up the Odisha State Disaster Mitigation Authority (OSDMA) in 2000.

Political Plan: For BJP And TDP, It's A Dilemma Of Choice

By Kajol Singh / INN Live

Even as UPA’s decision to bifurcate Andhra Pradesh has led to a political flux, its arch-rival waiting to occupy the throne in Delhi, the BJP, is confronted with a Hamletian dilemma—to ally with the Telugu Desam of Chandrababu Naidu or not—amid what is emerging as a win-win situation for the party in a state where it has minimal presence.

In a way, it is a dilemma for both the TDP and BJP because every other party has retained something and given up something. The Congress gave up in Andhra and Rayalaseema; YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has chosen to be relevant only in those two regions by opposing bifurcation while the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS) is, in any case, confined to only one region.

Should President's Rule Be Imposed To Create Telangana?

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

Contrary to the prevailing opinion, in this country, new state formation has never been smooth. Nor were the procedures exactly similar. Each state formation was unique and had followed a different sequence of steps.

The only thing common to all the state formations so far in Independent India has been the rigid applicability of Article 3 in its truest sense, where Parliament is given the supreme authority to carve out states irrespective of the opinion of the involved State Assemblies.

While the NDA followed a convenient procedure in the creation of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand in 2000, where the state assemblies initiated the demand for separation, such a procedure is neither legally mandated nor is constitutionally prescribed and deviates from most other prior state formations. 

Which New State Is Being Created: Telangana Or Andhra?

By M H Ahssan / INN Live

In the December of Year 2000, India's 26th, 27th and 28th states, namely Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh, were born. They came out of the shadows of their parent provinces split from -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh, respectively. With new capitals, they were to find their separate identities. But the case of the upcoming 29th state, Telangana, is starkly different. 

Its birth would eclipse the parent state itself, reducing it to nothing but a small block (Rayalseema) and a coastal strip (Coastal Andhra) on the map of the country. In case of UP, MP and Bihar, their names and respective capitals remained the same. In case of Telangana, Andhra Pradesh would cease to exist. And Hyderabad will not be capital of Andhra, but Telangana. In the scheme of states, it's Seemandhra that will be born. Telangana would just acquire the name Telangana.

Uttarakhand Disaster Victims 'Releif' Cheques Bounced

By Swati Reddy / INN Live

It has been three months since floods ravaged Uttarakhand and INN has now learned that compensation cheques have been dishonoured. More than a dozen compensation cheques given to victims of the Uttarakhand tragedy have bounced. 

While the state government claims it has enough funds, the bank account from which cheques have been issued reportedly has zero balance. "After the incident, the government gave me some relief through this money. But when I went to deposit the cheque they said the bank has no money and returned it," said a flood victim Radha Niwasi.

The Opposition has slammed what it calls the state government's failure to execute relief and rehabilitation.

India Shining: Patna, The Most Happenning City Of India

By T R Rajya Laxmi / INN Live

Patna is considered to be one of the fastest- growing cities in the country. Proof of that is in its metamorphosis of sorts manifested in the large number of mega projects coming up.

The state government has launched an ambitious ` 3,150 crore riverfront expressway project on the 21- km stretch along the Ganga.

This 'Onam' 2013 Festival, Hope For Good Governance!

By Dr.Perumal Koshy (Guest Writer)

Onam, festival celebrated by Keralites across the world, has significance in today’s context, not just because it is a festival that is being celebrated by one and all and other interesting festivities associated with it. Its message needs to be identified and meditated upon each year. Onam commemorate more than anything prosperity of Mahabali Kingdom!. That prosperity was the result of good governance, rather than anything!

India Speaks 780 Languages, 220 Lost In Last 50 Years

By Nikhil Chinappa / Mumbai

No one has ever doubted that India is home to a huge variety of languages. A new study, the People’s Linguistic Survey of India, says that the official number, 122, is far lower than the 780 that it counted and another 100 that its authors suspect exist.

The survey, which was conducted over the past four years by 3,000 volunteers and staff of the Bhasha Research & Publication Centre (“Bhasha” means “language” in Hindi), also concludes that 220 Indian languages have disappeared in the last 50 years, and that another 150 could vanish in the next half century as speakers die and their children fail to learn their ancestral tongues.

One Woman Dies Every Hour In India, 8500 Dowry Deaths

By Bismah Fatima / Hyderabad

One woman dies every hour due to dowry related reasons on an average in the country, which has seen a steady rise in such cases between 2007 and 2011, according to official data. National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures state that 8,233 dowry deaths were reported in 2012 from various states. The statistics work out to one death per hour. 

The number of deaths under this category of crime against women were 8,618 in 2011 but the overall conviction rate was 35.8 per cent, slightly above the 32 per cent conviction rate recorded in the latest data for 2012. The number of dowry deaths in the country has seen a steady growth during the period between 2007 and 2011. While in 2007, 8,093 such deaths were reported, the numbers rose to 8,172 and 8,383 in 2008 and 2009 respectively. In 2010, 8,391 such deaths were reported, according to the NCRB.

The Telangana Prophecy: Will More States Mean Conflict?

With the government clearing Telangana as India's 29th state, long-standing demands for separate states in other parts of the country have gained fresh momentum. This could be a foretelling of many more states to come, but would that necessarily augur ill for the unity of India? Noted historian Ramachandra Guha shares his thoughts.

Earlier in August, the UPA government decided to give the nod to India's 29th state Telangana, predictably setting in motion a spate of debates across the country.

'Weed Out Congress From India', Narendra Modi In Hyd

By Swetha Reddy / INN Bureau

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi today addressed a youth conclave at the Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Beginning his speech in Telugu,  Modi urged the people to vote out the "corrupt" Congress government and bring in the Bharatiya Janata Party.  Modi attacked the government on every issue that has been plaguing the country of late - ceasefire violation, Chinese incursion, fall of rupee, among others.

BJP’s Hyd Poll Rally: Will Modi Help Snatch Cong’s Votes?

By M H Ahssan / INN Bureau

If there’s anything that ratcheted more controversy than Narendra Modi‘s puppy remark in recent times, it had to be the ‘Rs 5 Hyderabad rally’. The rally, planned by the BJP back in the day when Andhra Pradesh was one state, shot to instant stardom not only because of its chief speaker but because the organisers decided to charge Rs 5 from everyone who wanted to hear Modi speak. It took the political circles by a storm of brickbats and counter jibes. While Congress minister Manish Tewari tweeted that by putting a five rupees price on his speech, the BJP has given out the true worth of its much celebrated leader, BJP spokesperson Nirmala Seetharaman explained that this was a noble attempt to garner funds for charity.

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.

Analysis: Why Is ‘Incredible India’ Such A Poor Show?

By M H Ahssan / INN Bureau

INN on why the world holidays elsewhere. India is spectacular. This fact has been impressed upon the world for a decade now by the slick ‘Incredible India’ advertising campaign. It’s all there on video, on billboards, on the sides of buses. The latest commercial features a smiling young woman practising yoga in the desert; boating on the Dal Lake; riding a vintage motorcycle in Ladakh; drinking fresh coconut water in Kerala; using one of our world-class airports; making earnest conversation at the Golden Temple; zorbing, paragliding, snowboarding, rock climbing and mountain biking; getting an oily massage at a luxury spa; drinking lassi in the blue city of Jodhpur; jostling onto a crowded bus in Kullu; swimming with an elephant; gawping at rhinos and tigers; playing chess in Varanasi; disappearing in clouds of coloured powder on Holi. All the while, during this hectic itinerary, she works on that most distinctive of Indian gestures: an ambiguous head-waggle.

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.

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.

Commentarty: 'The Inevitability Of Telangana State'

By Kingshuk Nag (Guest Writer)

Redrawing Andhra Pradesh’s map stems from the Congress’s electoral compulsions. Following the integration of 550 princely dominions into the Indian Union in 1956, language was chosen as the basis on which the new states were created. The only exception was the Hindi heartland which was so vast that it was considered prudent to create several states. 
    
Implicit in the creation of linguistic states was the belief that language is the basis of culture. If the same language was spoken across a state it meant that it represented homogenous culture. But this was a faulty belief to start with. In fact, Andhra Pradesh was the first state that was created on a linguistic basis.

Telangana History: Congress Will Win But TRS May Lose?

By Sanjay Singh / INN Bureau

After initial belligerence, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Kiran Kumar Reddy has made a complete about turn over the creation of a separate Telengana state. Reddy seem to be doing what Lalu Prasad Yadav did 13 years ago when then NDA government decided to bifurcate Bihar and carve out Jharkhand. “Over my dead body”, a defiant Lalu  then said but soon allowed a resolution for the creation of Jharkhand to be moved in the Bihar assembly and also have it passed.

Reddy is doing the same after threatening to resign over the “destructive decision”, he now wants to abide by the party high command decision and “move on”.