Focus: Why 'Sex Work' Should Be Decriminalised In India?

In India, the debate around sex work is often convoluted between that of, legalization, abolition and an in-between demand for decriminalization. Opinions oscillate between- sex cannot be work because it is an intimate human act and should not be sold, to equating it with any other form of labor and hence completely valid. 

The debate is further made complex by the socio-political scenario as the Indian state maintains an ambiguous stand on sex-work; neither overtly approving it nor disapproving it and allowing it to exist in the underbelly of our society.

Focus: Where Are The Free School Textbooks For Children?

By Rati Kumar in Bhopal

In August last year, the a vernacular newspaper reported from Varanasi, that none of the students of class I, II and III had school text books. The whole of July had gone by without anything being taught in schools and the students spent most of their time playing. Varanasi is just as an example; the situation across the country is equally disappointing.

According to the Right to Education (RTE) Act 2009, every child in a primary school should have text books available on time i.e. at the beginning of the academic year. But the reality is far from what the Act stipulates. In fact, most children do not receive school books and even those who do, don’t necessarily get all the books and rarely at the beginning of the academic year.

Armed With The 'Qura'an' And The 'Constitution', These Strong Women Are Fighting 'Fundamentalism' In Life!

SUCCESS STORY: India's Muslim women, often called a minority within a minority for their double handicap of gender and faith, are challenging medieval religious laws that have oppressed them for centuries. 

In 2007, two women co-founded the Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA), a group that is leading this fight. When Noorjehan Safia Niaz (43) and Zakia Soman (50) came together to empower Muslim women, they did not imagine the response they would get.

Crime Fighters: CBI Officials Turn Into 'Bhakts' To Nab Fraudster BLiving As 'Sadhu Badrinath'

By Alok Kumar

Interestingly the accused was located by the probe agency after it learnt about a suspected Facebook profile by the name Swami Durgesh Mahraj, which was believed to be run by the accused himself.

A man living as a sadhu at an ashram located right opposite to the historical Badrinath Temple of Uttarakhand, was finally arrested by the Central Bureau of Investigation after absconding for over 12 years.

Interestingly the accused was located by the probe agency after it learnt about a suspected Facebook profile by the name Swami Durgesh Mahraj, which was believed to be run by the accused himself.

Alert: Is Yasin Bhatkal Planning To Escape From Hyd Jail?

By Abdul Rehman

SECURITY ALERT: World's notorious terrorist outfit, Indian Mujahideen's co-founder, Yasin Bhatkal, who is lodged in the high security Cherlapally central prison in Hyderabad, dropped a major bombshell when he reportedly told his wife that he would soon be out of jail with the help from Damascus.

According to intelligence sources, they had this information a couple of days back and it is said that the first information in this regard had come from New Delhi. It is learnt that the security agencies had kept a tab on the phone of Bhatkal’s wife Zahida.

Poisoned Fruits: INNLIVE Uncovers Dangerous Chemicals Used To Ripen Mangoes And Other Fruits In Hyderabad

By Newscop & Team

INVESTIGATION: It's the perfect season to dig into luscious mangoes, but think twice before you reach out for the king of fruits. Ripened artificially with calcium carbide, these mangoes put you at the risk of headache, dizziness, sleep disorders and even memory loss. 

For the past few weeks, Hyderabad's Kottapet market located near Dilsukhnagar — one of the biggest wholesale fruit markets in the country — has seen flooded with a variety of mangoes. More than 4 lakh kg of the fruit is reaching the mandi daily, according to traders. 

A Mother Eats Portion Of Her Child's Head In West Bengal

By Swara Bose in Kolkata

In a bizarre incident, a woman in West Bengal's Malda district was allegedly caught eating the flesh of her four-year-old daughter after cutting off a portion of the skin of her head, police said.

A resident of Gopalpur village under Malda's English Bazar police station, 42-year-old Pramila Mondal was seen by her brother-in-law Dablu Mondal eating her daughter's flesh.

"Pramila's house is next to ours. When my husband entered her house, he could hear little Bharati's screams. She was sitting on her mother's lap crying as her mother ate her flesh. The scene was shocking beyond words. Her son Swarna was sleeping in the room at that time," said Falguni Mondal, Dablu's wife.

Shocking: Top West Bengal Government Hospital Director Transferred After Tried To Do A 'Dog's Dialysis' Treatment!

By Swara Bose in Kolkata

In a shocking incident in West Bengal state-run government hospital a VIP-dog dialysis performed along with human patients in a row. The dog didn’t undergo complete dialysis and INNLIVE break the news, but the hospital’s director has been transferred. That’s the story of Pradeep Mitra, who was the director of state-run SSKM Hospital. 

Close on heels of the bizarre incident in which Mitra had given the go-ahead for a dog to have dialysis - which didn’t happen in the end because the hospital is meant for humans - the West Bengal government transferred him to a nondescript hospital. 

'Magma' Offers 'M-Scholar' Scholarships To UG Students

Magma Fincorp Limited announces a three-year scholarships for meritorious undergraduate students in India. These scholarships will be given to poor and needy and selection will be done through merit basis only.

Every year many meritorious students hailing from poor families are forced to discontinue their higher education due to lack of funds. Keeping alive their motto of ‘investing in the smallest dreams’, Magma Fincorp Ltd., a leading NBFC, has come forward to provide financial assistance in form of scholarships to such students under their scheme “M-Scholar”. Students will be selected on the basis of their academic performance and socio-economic background of their families who are unable to support their children to continue studies. 

New 'Bandhan Bank' Is Born: Chandra Shekhar Ghosh's Incredible Journey From 'Sweet Shop To A Bank Owner'

By Promila Dutta in Kolkata

In most Indian languages, the word Bandhan means bond or togetherness. His bond with the credit-deprived poor in Eastern India’s villages and a Rs 2 lakh loan were the initial capital for Chandra Shekhar Ghosh, the son of a small sweet-shop owner from Bengal, to begin a microfinance institution, Bandhan Financial Services Ltd, and grow it to a private bank in less than 15 years.

Bandhan Bank, India's latest private lender, will be officially launched in Kolkata on 23 August. On the first day, the bank will have a loan book of Rs 11,000 crore, close to 600 branches, 10 million customers and a net worth of Rs 3,200 crore. That’s the kind of numbers good enough to generate envy for any banker in India and requires years of hard work to achieve.

India’s First 'Transgender' Principal Comes From 'Village'

After years of taunting and trauma over her true gender identity, Somnath Banerjee underwent a sex-change surgery and chose a name that would boldly declare who she really was: Manabi, simply meaning ‘woman’ in Bengali.

Manabi Bandopadhyay, 50, begins her new job as principal of Krishnagar Women’s College in West Bengal this week—the first transgender person to hold such a senior academic position in the country.

India has a population of 490,000 transgender people, according to census data from 2011, the first year the country began to record their numbers.

How An Indian Wildlife Reserve Lost 20 Tigers In 3-Years?

When a report recently declared that there were no tigers left at the Buxa Tiger Reserve in West Bengal, it sent alarm bells ringing. On May 18 and 19, officials from the reserve got together with representatives of the Wildlife Institute of India, the National Tiger Conservation Authority and the West Bengal Forest Department to chart a plan to reintroduce the national animal there.

The reported count was particularly vexing because just three years earlier, the same reserve had announced the presence of 20 tigers. How did the tiger population of a reserve go down from 20 to none in under four years?

Investigation: 'They Still Die In The Govt Labour Rooms'

INNLIVE team goes undercover to see how women are treated in a large government facility in Kolkata and found the unimaginable truths and dwell the reality behind these practices direct under the governmental controlled medical services.

Munmun Mukherjee is a good patient. She lies quiet on the white stone delivery table of the government hospital in Kolkata but for an occasional low moan. Even this is muted, the edge of her voice flattened, as if she knows that she needs to be on her best behaviour. A slim, dusky woman, she looks tidy even in her tired, crumpled nightie.

Even Monkeys Desperately Trying To Cool Down As India Battles Against Severe Heat, Claims More Than 2000 Lives

When India is struggling with severe heat, monkeys are becoming desparate to cool down by jumping in the lakes, ponds and swimming pools. 

More than 2000 people have died in the midst of a blistering heat wave in India which has seen temperatures hit 50 degrees celsius as roads have melted in the capital New Delhi, Telangana capital Hyderabad and Rajasthan capital Jaipur.

Holidays and leaves has been cancelled for all doctors as deaths from heatstroke have soared, and there has also been a spike diarrhea cases due to people swimming in dirty water to cool off.

The Vicious Consequences Of Child Marriage Are Beyond!

For some of us, the whole concept of child marriage exists only in TV shows, or in some faraway land. For us, ‘Balika Vadhu’ is just that – a television show. The reality of this seldom strikes.

Honestly, caught in the rigors of everyday life, I sometimes forget how privileged I am. It is in these moments that I then sit down and crib about my privileges. I cry about having to travel for two hours to reach college, having to manage my own monthly budget.

Crime Live: Debit Card Fraudsters On Prowl In Hyderabad

Debit card fraudersters are prowling in Hyderabad. Many incidentscame to light and many youngesters arrested by the police is the clear indication of this crime is growing fastly. 

New-age crooks are duping people through celebrity game show. Through debit card and `Chehara Pehchano' celebrity fraud, new-age crooks have duped more than 200 persons to the tune of several lakhs of rupees in the first four months of this year.

Anybody Dares To Get Afraid Of 'Owaisis' Or 'Majlis Party'?

The sudden rise of All India Majlis Party, which has now became a talk of the town and burning topic in the various political circles is nothing but illusion. According to analysts the muslims issues are not the topic of propoganda, just playing with the sentiments and acting political stunts are the mantra.

Muslim's Tableeghi Jamaat In India: Extremist Or Pacifist?

After relative quiet, the Tableeghi Jamaat (TJ), a loosely based religious organisation, is back in news. And this time, it is the Centre which has issued a circular instructing state governments to keep an eye on foreign nationals flouting visa rules and indulging in preaching. It is being widely construed within the community that it is the TJ which is in the government's crosshairs.

The TJ is no stranger to controversy. Its origins can be traced to the 1920s when its revered `Hazratji', Maulana Mohammed Ilyas, from Kandhla in Uttar Pradesh, laid the foundations for the shape in which it finds itself today.

Delhi, Bengal Debacle: Is Modi's Novelty Factor Fading Out

Delhi is gone, West Bengal is going. Bihar looks uncertain, Punjab could be next. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s juggernaut has come to a halt, Amit Shah’s invincible army is staring at a year of tough battles and, perhaps, a few humiliating losses. The ground beneath BJP has started moving.

What Delhi thought a few months ago, Bengal thought earlier this week when its voters discarded the BJP in the civic polls, leaving its score-sheet blank.

Eat Your Way With These 14 Varieties Of Indian Mangoes

It’s that time of year when everything is bathed in a warm, fuzzy, honey glow and there’s a sweet fragrance in the air. That might be partly due to summer setting in across India but it’s also because the best (and India’s national) fruit is making the rounds. 

For most Indians, summer is synonymous with mangoes; climbing trees to pluck those sunshine-coloured fruits or watching our grannies prepare mango pickles for the year. Mangoes are a habit that many of us find hard to give up.