‍‍‍Why Telangana ‍‍Congress Fixed A Price For Huzurabad Ticket?

Political hulchul begins in Huzurabad bypoll likely to be scheduled in lasy week of this month. Even as the Telangana Rashtra Samithi and Bharatiya Janata Party have intensified their campaign for the upcoming by-election to Huzurabad assembly seat, the Congress party is still lagging behind its rivals in all aspects.

While former minister Eatala Rajender has already been finalised as the BJP candidate, the TRS leadership recently announced the candidature of youth leader Gellu Srinivas Yadav to fight the by-elections.

Both the candidates have already been touring different parts of the constituency, though the Election Commission of India is yet to take a call on the announcement of schedule for the by-election. But the Congress is still waiting for muhurtam to finalise its candidates.

Though there are reports that the Pradesh Congress Committee has zeroed in on the candidature of former minister Konda Surekha for Huzurabad, the party is trying to create an impression that it is following a democratic process in the selection of the candidate.
It has called for applications from candidates interesting in contesting the by-poll, so that the party would select the best among them.

According to PCC working president Mahesh Kumar Goud, interested candidates can apply for the party ticket from 10 am on Wednesday to 5 pm on September 5.

What is worse, it has set a price for the party ticket to fight the Huzurabad by-poll. The aspiring candidates should submit a demand draft for Rs 5,000 along with the application for the party ticket and this amount is non-refundable.

A committee of the PCC comprising Bhatti Vikramarka, Damodar Rajanarasimha, Ponnam Prabhakar, T Jeevan Reddy, D Sridhar Babu, Warangal DCC president Nayini Rajender Reddy and Karimnagar DCC president Satyanarayana would interview the applicants on September 6.

The committee would then send the report to the AICC by September 10 and the AICC in turn would finalise the candidate, Mahesh Kumar Goud said.
One wonders why the PCC is following this process, instead of identifying the suitable candidate for Huzurabad straightaway, like how the TRS and the BJP have done.

“If the PCC wants to follow this process, why has it consulted Konda Surekha earlier? It looks like the PCC wants to make as much money as possible from the applicants. In any case, the party knows the chances of winning Huzurabad by-poll are very bleak. Why all this farce?” a Congress leader asked. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Superstar Mahesh Babu's 'Birthday Exclusive' Interview

On the occasion of his birthday on August 9, Tollywood superstar Mahesh Babu talks to #KhabarLive about his future projects, looks back on the last year and has a special message for his fans.

Prince Mahesh Babu’s fans were recently treated to the star’s stylish first look from his upcoming film Sarkaru Vaari Paata. His last film to release was Sarileru Neekevvaru in January 2020, one of the biggest hits in Tollywood that year, before the pandemic began. While shooting schedules and release dates have been postponed due to the pandemic, Mahesh Babu has been spending time with family, working, and even promoting vaccination drives. In an interview with #KhabarLive, the actor talks about his future projects with directors Trivikram Srinivas and SS Rajamouli, looks back on the last year and conveys a special message for his fans.

The past year has not been easy on anyone. Looking back on it, how was your experience?

It’s been a time to reflect and learn about many things. It has also been a blessing in disguise because I got to spend quality time with my family, especially my father, my wife and two children which I would not have got otherwise, given my work schedule and the kids’ school timings.

I know. But still, to be cooped up together for so long isn’t the easiest of situations to be in, right?

I know. It’s not been easy for any of us. But all in all it’s been good for me. It was a break none of us expected and I’ve tried to make the most of it.

And are you optimistic about the coming months?

I’m a very positive person and I only look at the situation with the hope that things will get better if we all follow the protocols and guidelines given by the authorities. Also, vaccines are a big confidence booster for us and I really hope that our country and the rest of the world is vaccinated in order to go back to our normal lives soon .

Do you see your next release Sarkaru Vaari Paata making it to theatres?

Yes, it will make it to the theatres on January 13, in time for Sankranthi, I am  confident about that. We’ve all suffered enough. We need a  break. My films are made for the big screen and that I will never take away from my fans. I respect the Over-the-top (OTT) platform. But that is a separate entity. It’s the movie theatre where I meet my fans. We have a pact.

Tell us about your forthcoming films?

I have Sarkaru Vaari Paata coming out in January 2022, followed by a film by Trivikram Srinivas. Then I have Rajamouli garu’s film 

Everyone wants to know what you plan to do with SS Rajamouli, another Baahubali?

I know everyone is curious, damn curious. Even I am (he laughs). It’s too early to talk about the project. But I can tell you, it will be very special. But no, not another Baahubali.

What is your advice to your fans during these trying times?

I’d  just like to say to all those reading this that this has been a difficult time for all of us and we are all in this together. We will come out stronger and we will win this fight together if we follow the guidelines of our authorities. Please wear a mask at all times. We have to always remember that we’re going to have to learn to live with this new virus in a way where we are all safe. We have to protect our loved ones from the virus in any way we can. The virus isn’t going away anytime soon.

Any final message to your fans?

I want to say I love my fans and thank them for always showering me with so much love like they always have. I am always very grateful. Getting vaccinated is a very important message I want to give all my fans. It’s our only hope to get back to a normal life.

On the other hand, in a social media message Superstar Mahesh Babu has appealed to his fans to plant saplings on his birthday on August 9.

As a part of Green India Challenge, the actor took to his Instagram account to urge his fans to plant saplings on his birthday in a way to demonstrate their love and affection towards him.

“It always humbles me... All the things you do to celebrate the love you have for me. This year, I have a special request. I urge you all to plant 3 saplings each on my birthday to support the #GreenIndiaChallenge. Tag me in your posts so I can see them too! :) #HaraHaiTohBharahai @santoshkumarjoginipally (sic),” he posted with a beautiful picture on his Instagram page.

Thanking Mahesh Babu, MP Santosh Kumar, the founder of GIC, wrote, “This is so nice  @urstrulyMahesh garu! It’s so moving gesture to ask your huge fan base to plant three saplings to show their love for you on your birthday as part of #GreenIndiaChallenge. It’s all because of the massive support from personalities like yours, we have come this far.”

Earlier in May, the actor launched a vaccination drive in the village he adopted in Andhra Pradesh on May 31, the birthday of his father actor Krishna. “Vaccination is our ray of hope for a normal life again! Doing my bit to ensure everyone in Burripalem is vaccinated and safe. Extremely grateful to #AndhraHospitals for helping us arrange this vaccination drive (sic),” the star had tweeted earlier.

On the workfront, Mahesh Babu has started shooting for Sarkaru Vaari Paata, directed by Parasuram. If everything goes according to plan, the filmmakers hope to release the film in January 2022. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Coronavirus Given Indian ‘Foodies’ Chance To Become Genuine ‘Food Lovers’

By Ahssanuddin Haseeb

The pandemic has bared the vulnerability of our food sources. This is one of our best shots to hit reset on what and how we eat.

Food is our most frequently indulged pleasure. Yet what’s on the plate goes beyond taste and texture. It’s about politics and culture. It’s about supply chains and climate change. It’s about nutrition and health outcomes. It’s about the working conditions and living standards of farmers. Sure, it’s about trendy pop-ups and exciting food trucks. But it’s also about crop-destroying cyclones and locust swarms.

Your Tandoori Chicken Could Be Making You Resistant To Antibiotics

67% of the poultry farms tested used antimicrobials as growth boosters—despite a government ban.

I'm a vegetarian, but most of my friends and family love chicken, which means that I've tagged along with them to buy chicken over the years (not my favourite activity). One thing I've noticed is that the chickens today seem much larger than the ones people bought when I was a kid.

How Akhila became Hadiya – and why her case has reached the Supreme Court?

A young woman adopted Islam, defying her Hindu family. The case has roiled Kerala.

It is called Devi Krupa – the blessings of the goddess. But inside the modest single-storeyed house in TV Puram village in Kerala’s Kottayam district, a young woman has been confined against her wishes, on the orders of Kerala High Court. Outside the house, six policemen stand guard round-the-clock.

“Babaji Only Wants To Sell”: A Former CEO Reveals The Inner Workings Of 'Patanjali' Company

Ayurveda giant Patanjali’s rise to success has been nothing short of a phenomenon.

The Haridwar-based company, which sells everything from herbal soaps and shampoos to ghee and honey, has become a favourite among millions of Indian households, chipping away at the dominance of big multinational firms.

Yet, few know about the inner workings of the Rs10,000 crore behemoth founded in 2006 by Acharya Balakrishna and yoga guru Ramdev. The latter rose to fame doing yoga asanas on TV in the mid-2000s, before playing a role in the anti-corruption movement that swept the country earlier this decade, gaining many political enemies in the process.

Empty Promises: These UP Villages Were ‘Adopted’ By BJP Leaders—Only To Be Neglected And Abandoned

‘If the MP appears, we’ll beat him up. And then we'll ask, “Who the hell are you?"’

The Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna was launched by Narendra Modi amidst much fanfare a few months into his tenure as the Prime Minister. A "significant" date was selected – October 11 – famed social reformer Jayaprakash Narayan's birth anniversary. Under this plan, Members of Parliament from across political parties choose a village from their respective constituencies and ensure it becomes a "model village", by taking on the responsibility of developing its physical and institutional infrastructure. This process is romantically also termed as "village adoption" or sansad god liye gaon.

Trolling – An Ever Growing Menace In India

The social media is now literally everywhere. Abuse on social media is hurtful and unacceptable, but it will not be easy to stop this ugly trend.

It has been phenomenal in its rise. The social media is now literally everywhere. Across the world, people have taken to blogging, tweeting and Facebooking with such fervour that at times the traditional media seems to be a pre-historic creature. With very few moderators vis-à-vis the number of social media users, it has become almost a free-for-all match on the worldwide web. There is so much blah blah blah all around us that it even prompted a columnist of a British newspaper to say that he is discontinuing his column to reduce word emissions. He was joking, of course.

Will Slaughter Curbs Lead To Cattle Surplus Or Heading Towards Ecological Imbalance?

As the Centre looks to modify the rules on cattle trade, it would do well to consult experts about how the changes would affect farmers.

With the government’s assurance to the Supreme Court on Tuesday that it would suspend implementation of new regulations on cattle trade, the nation’s cows, bullocks, bulls and buffaloes are back on the front page. The new rules, notified in May, had been greeted by vociferous protests from some state governments. As many pointed out, the regulations made it virtually impossible for cattle to be sold for slaughter – leaving farmers with the enormous burden of feeding old, fallow animals that are of little economic value.

A cafe chain is giving Indians exactly what they want: the perfect cup of chai

Inside a bright green and yellow outlet of Chaayos in Delhi’s Connaught Place neighbourhood, Swati Singh is taking some respite from the heat. But the Delhi University student isn’t sipping the usual cold coffee or lime soda; instead, she’s savouring a cup of saunf (fennel seed) chai, one of the many varieties offered by a chain that has made India’s unofficial national beverage its flagship product.

“…mostly we end up going to the coffee places like Starbucks or Cafe Coffee Day, (but) this place seems worth trying,” the 22-year-old said, adding that she liked the idea of experimenting with all the different tea flavours.

How Vikas Khanna Went From Being A Small-Time Punjabi Caterer Who Couldn't Speak English To A Michelin-Star Chef

"Even today, whenever there's a tweet from my account in incorrect English, it is probably mine."

The first time I speak to Vikas Khanna, he is at the Cannes film festival. It is the day after the launch of the trailer of his biopic Buried Seeds, which is slated to release later this year. A day later, when we speak again, he is wandering on the streets of Varanasi, in search of rare utensils for a forthcoming kitchen museum at his alma mater Manipal University. These two extremes sum up Khanna's trajectory from a small caterer from Amritsar to one of the world's best-known Indian chefs.

‘Hanuman Da Damdaar’ has Salman Khan, animation, songs and a big-budget feel

The film positions the monkey god as a superhero.

There has been a profusion of films and television shows on Hanuman’s exploits, including VG Samant’s Hanuman (2005). Ruchi Narain’s Hanuman Da Damdaar is the latest addition to the list. The June 2 release focuses on the monkey god’s childhood and traces his evolution into a divine force. The voice cast includes Javed Akhtar as Valmiki, Salman Khan as Hanuman, Raveena Tandon and Saurabh Shukla as Hanuman’s parents, Kunal Khemmu as Indra and Hussain Dalal as Garuda.

Jasmine to chocolate: In sex-shy India, flavoured condoms are way more popular than regular rubbers

A sex worker blows a condom for decorating a tram during an AIDS awareness campaign in the eastern Indian city of Kolkata December 1, 2007. India has the world's third biggest caseload of people living with the deadly virus. After originally estimating some 5.7 million were infected in India, the U.N. reduced that estimate to 2.5 million.

In a country where talking about sex remains a taboo, and the act of buying contraception is often shrouded in secrecy, flavoured condoms are having a moment.

Manisha Koirala interview: ‘No matter how much heartbreak you suffer, you should not lose hope’

The 1990s star will be seen in the June 2 release ‘Dear Maya’.

There is a warm, fuzzy embrace of anticipation around Manisha Koirala’s upcoming film Dear Maya, directed by debutante Sunaina Bhatnagar. And it has little to do with the fact that it is the actress’s first release after six years. The 1990s movie star has emerged from a long battle with cancer and other personal crises. In the June 2 release, Koirala plays a recluse who is the subject of a thoughtless prank and then goes missing.

Unpaid and shunned, ragpickers are critical for waste management in India

They help clean up a significant proportion of the 62 million tonnes of waste generated annually.

The Ajmer Shatabdi pulls into the New Delhi station every night at around 11 pm. During the six-hour journey from Ajmer, the train serves tea, snacks, soup, dinner and dessert – more food than an average person can eat in that time.

Indian IT Workers Brace For Bloodbath As Industry Veers Towards Jobless Growth

It seems like the heydays of tech jobs in India may be getting over sooner than what many will have you believe.

Nearly all large IT employers in India such as Infosys, Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Cognizant, are in the process of laying off hundreds of employees, according to media reports. And several more have plans to retrench as many as 58,000 engineers , or over four per cent of their combined workforce in the next few months, Mint reported.

How A Muslim MasterChef In Michigan Is Fighting Islamophobia By Inviting Strangers Over For Dinner?

In her book 'A Room of One's Own', Virginia Wolf had written, "One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." 28-year-old Amanda Saab, a Michigan-based social worker and a blogger probably believes in Wolf's words.

At a time of fear and uncertainty, and when the world is full of hate, Amanda is showing how generosity and passion for food can bring people together; one dinner at a time.

She hosts a type of gathering that she calls "Dinner With Your Muslim Neighbor." For over a year now, she has been inviting guests over to her home where she serves them a home cooked meal. And while they dine, she likes to have open conversations about what it's like to be Muslim in America today.

Is the U.S. Stock Market Headed Higher — or for a Crash?

A groundswell of concern is building on Wall Street that the U.S. stock market is in dangerously high territory. 

This week, the Nasdaq Composite hit a new high as the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 remained in record territory — and they are up 28%, 18% and 16% respectively from a year ago. Meanwhile, the S&P 500 is trading at 25 times trailing 12-month earnings compared with a historical average of 16. The value of the stock market is nearly 150% higher than the nation’s GDP, a level last seen around the dot-com bust in 2000, according to the World Bank. And a BofA Merrill Lynch survey showed that 81% of fund managers think U.S. stocks are overvalued. 

Is The Indian Railways' Ambitious Modernisation Plan In Danger Because Of Its Financial Mess?

"We have lost a lot of revenue to the road sector. So, now we have to bring back that share of traffic to the railway sector."

India's mammoth state railways, much of them stuck in colonial times, have missed earnings targets for the third straight year and debts have shot up, documents seen by Reuters show, raising doubts about an ambitious modernisation drive.

The previously unreported figures will make uncomfortable reading for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the son of a train station tea seller who set out plans to overhaul the world's fourth largest rail network after he took power in 2014.

EDUCATING INDIA 1 - The Haryana Paradox: As Enrolment Falls In Govt Schools, Teachers Competing For Jobs

By LIKHAVEER | INNLIVE

The fear of being declared ‘surplus’ is forcing government school teachers to canvass in their local communities for admissions.

Anil Kumar is a volunteer social science teacher at the Government High School in Umrawat, in Bhiwani district of Haryana. He teaches Classes 6 to 10, two hours a day on all school days. For a year until he came along, the school had no social science teacher. Principal Wazir Singh, a former high school mathematics teacher, and the school’s science teachers stood in during social science classes. “It's just not the same thing,” Wazir Singh said, “as having a trained subject teacher.”