‍‍Cricket’s Problematic Bid For The Olympics

What is a true representation of the sport?

The irony of only two teams competing for cricket’s gold and silver medals at the Olympics in 1900 is not lost as cricket contemplates a re-entry with an eight-team pool that is not likely to feature any team outside of the so-called big league, making it a largely a redundant affair on the world stage, not to mention a problematic representation of the sport.

There is strong reason to believe that even the Olympics courting cricket is not for the right reason which is why the idea sits somewhat uneasily on cricket minds.

Almost stealing the thunder from the Indian medallists being felicitated in the country upon their return from the Tokyo Olympics, Jay Shah of the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) confirmed the news that the International Cricket Council (ICC) was indeed pushing for a bid for cricket’s inclusion at the Los Angeles Games in 2028 but also, that India would be participating if the deal went through.

The news was met with mixed reactions, with some rejoicing cricket’s long-awaited entry into the Olympics while others, and this includes a fair number of cricket traditionalists, purists and fans alike, were more sceptical of the idea.

While the epitome of any sport lies in its viability across the globe and its inclusion in an epic multi-discipline event like the Olympics to honour the best in the discipline, cricket has a few pointers that counter the fact.

In announcing the decision, ICC chair Greg Barclay released a statement to the effect:

“We see the Olympics as a part of cricket’s long term future. We have more than a billion fans globally and almost 90 per cent of them want to see cricket at the Olympics. Clearly, cricket has a strong and passionate fan base, particularly in south Asia, where 92 percent of our fans come from, and whilst there are also 30 million cricket fans in the USA.”

But the problem is almost immediate. The claim of a billion cricket fans is not hard to see given where cricket’s interest is primarily centred – India – and the idea that the USA has a thirty million fan base does not automatically translate to USA cricket having a following of 30 million followers.

Statistics can easily be misrepresented as they can be used to paint a false, even delusional picture. However, the numbers themselves cannot lie.

Looking at the same numbers, it is not hard either to see why the Olympics is showing an interest in cricket.

Olympics viewership has halved from the London Olympics in 2012 to the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 to only twenty million viewers.

The Olympics would like to breach this largely virgin South Asian territory and given that cricket is second to be the world’s second most popular sport after football despite its concentrated pockets around the world, it would seem it was a marriage of equals.

India is celebrating the most medal winners in its history – seven. It seemed ignominious for a 1.3 billion population that they could only produce seven medal-worthy winners, while other more established nations like the USA and China are racking up the medals tally consistently.

Here is the tricky story though.

Firstly, only twelve cricket teams currently play Test cricket. Although the ICC boasts of 92 affiliate nations.

When was the last time an affiliate team broke through the ranks? One has to go back to 2003 and the ICC Cricket World Cup in South Africa to remember the heroics of Kenya which got into the business end of the tournament.

Increasingly, there has been a push within cricket’s own circles to sideline these affiliate nations from their only means of exposure – qualifying for the World Cup tournaments – simply because they are not commercially viable for broadcasting and media rights packaging.

Even if cricket were to make it to the Olympics, it would still be likely that even amongst the 12 teams, there would be the usual suspects showing up at the event, leaving cricket to be showcased at the event but sending false hopes to its nearly hundred strong teams on the periphery.

The West Indies will not be able to represent as one nation and neither will England under the Great Britain bracket.

Which Caribbean nation will go through? Without sufficient development projects to bridge the gap of disparity of competitiveness between the permanent member nations and the affiliates, how does cricket aim to be a true representative of deciphering the best team at the Olympics which is riveting only because the quality of the performers is too close to call?

Is medal assurance is now making India change its mind about sending cricket to the Olympics? Is that not convoluted enough?

Secondly, one of the conditions in a sport making it to the Olympics is that the format in which it will be presented at the Olympics should be in international operation.

Cricket has run into hot water over this issue, apart from vested interests of boards in the past. Will a compromise be reached now?

While there is euphoria over the possibility of cricket being showcased at the Los Angeles event even though there is some consideration that cricket would be better off making its debut once more at the Brisbane Games in the next edition in 2032, there is still little consensus about the format in which it will go ahead.

The England and Wales Cricket Board pushing for the Hundred comes as no surprise though there is also in some quarters a push for T10 (as opposed to Twenty20) as a more palatable sport given the time constraints of being able to create space for doubleheaders in a ten days span of time that the Olympics can afford.

The problem with the Hundred is that it is yet another variation of shortening the sport and not all that different from Twenty20 given that it only reduces the match by 20 balls an innings. As far as T10 goes, while the ICC has sanctioned this version in the gulf, it is not an internationally prominent format and therefore, goes against the traditional Olympics regulations.

Twenty20 for all its globally viable purposes is not the true representation of skills and temperament of what makes a cricketer at the highest level.

With it being a more franchisee based concept than a World Cup viability, Twenty20 is about specialists than about cricketers in the true sense. Is that a fair representation of being medal-worthy for something as worthy as the Olympics?

There is some consideration that a better compromise would be the one-day internationals as a fairer representation of the sport though it might be an overkill given that cricket has its own legitimate version to decide the overall winner in the time tested World Cup format. Redundant enough?

There are suggestions that Twenty20 might be easier to push through and also, make cricket’s case easier at the Olympics simply because the format has been around and also, that it would kill two birds with one stone by allowing cricket to do away with the currently overcooked goose that is the ICC Twenty20 World Cup.

The only problem with promoting this idea is that the sports that do make it to the Olympics not only feature athletes of the highest quality, but also, in the version of the sport that is internationally renowned as the very pinnacle in its form.

Can cricket say the same for Twenty20, leave alone the Hundred or T20? At the moment, teams that do well at Twenty20 events such as the West Indies rarely reflect the gulf that has developed after the top four teams in the game that are fairly consistent across all three accepted formats.

Although it is being claimed that pushing cricket at the Olympics will be an impetus to push the governments of fringe teams into driving funding into developing these teams, increased medal tally has not done the trick even in the Indian context despite this unprecedented adulation that often comes after the fact and soon as easily forgotten.

Paraag Marathe, part of the ICC Olympics Group that also includes the ECB, the Asian Cricket Council and Zimbabwe cricket, seemed overly optimistic of what cricket at the Olympics could do for USA Cricket.

“USA Cricket is thrilled to be able to support cricket’s bid for inclusion in the Olympics, the timing of which aligns perfectly with our continuing plans to develop the sport in the USA. With so many passionate cricket fans and players already in the USA and a huge global audience, we believe that cricket’s inclusion will add great value to the Los Angeles 2021 Olympics Games and help us to achieve our own vision of establishing cricket as a mainstream sport in this country.”

What Marathe failed to mention was that too many young Indian cricketers are already “retiring” in order to qualify for the Major League Cricket in the USA because of the BCCI’s current restrictive policy that does not allow Indian cricketers to participate in franchisee Twenty20 leagues overseas.

So it is questionable how much of it is homegrown talent and how much of it is a talent that has emigrated overseas, which in the past has made up the numbers of certain affiliate teams that made it on the rare occasion to the top league in a world cup context.

That this exposure will drive the Chinese and USA markets into greater development of cricket seems highly unlikely given that they are not likely to sudden divert their resources from their tried and tested disciplines into a sport where it is highly unlikely that their team will break ranks at the highest level in the immediate or even ten years down the line and that too account for a medal or two at most.

Thirdly, and most importantly, the whole premise of participation at the Olympics seems diluted by the idea of the very motivations that are driving cricket and the Olympics into this arranged marriage.

The ECB sees it as a way of promoting another home driven format – Twenty20 before the Hundred – in the hope of resuscitating cricket interest in the flagging home of the sport.

The BCCI now sees its potential perhaps in how the medal winners are being received and with government impetus – Shah is after all the son of Amit Shah which in itself is contravening of the Lodha committee reforms that looked to separated political affiliations from sports administration – is looking to create its own larger entity.

With conditions of course, since it has traditionally opposed losing its autonomy to bodies like the Indian Olympics Association and through the avoidance of drug testing arm of WADA in India, NADA.

Olympics is meant to be the pinnacle of any sport. It is why the world-class athletes begin training the very next day after the conclusion of an Olympics event in preparation for the next one four years away.

This has also caused some problems in sports like tennis where the top players have tended to be choosy over what they value and where they wish to spread their time – the Grand Slam or the Olympics.

One of the biggest reasons the BCCI is stating this change of heart is the push from the current Indian government for increasing the medal score at the Olympics.

The idea of having a men’s and women’s version at the Olympics means a possibility of two medals, notwithstanding the fact that India is yet to taste top success in the men’s arena since the ICC Champions Trophy in 2017.

However, it has to be remembered that this at the end of the day will ensure at best two medals. This with a large contingent of players who make up a team.

It seems that the Indian government and the sports ministry are better advised to divert their energies to developing the infrastructure to produce greater medal possibilities by following the China and USA models of throwing the gates open to discovering talent by training a larger number of athletes in the various disciplines instead of resting medal hopefuls around the neck of one team in an elusive discipline.

With the podium potential of three medals in each discipline, increasing the calibre and number of athletes makes far better sense.

Besides, cricket, particularly in the Indian subcontinent, does not need a platform nor additional spotlight that takes away from much-needed resources in the other disciplines where athletes could do with greater financial assistance, support structure and backing.

As far as the Olympics goes, if the South Asia Market is their goal to tap into a larger commercial market, perhaps they might want to look into providing impetus towards these governments enhancing interest in non-cricket sports.

Besides, until cricket can sort itself out, having greater exposure is going to do little for the sport itself if it is only going to add to its languishing affiliate nation tally.

Will cricket give up its precious revenue-making bilateral series time, particularly time like the IPL window or the Hundred, for an Olympics event every four years while the remuneration is not likely to justify the decision?

Is cricket willing to incur the short term loss for potential long term gains that might still not accrue from the Olympics where medal racing nations have their traditional sports back?

How likely will it be down the line when cricket might see the merit of sending a second-string team to the Olympics to make up the numbers while the likes of mainstream players are engaged in more lucrative, bilateral engagements?

Is it not why football has so little weightage at the Olympics while the recently concluded Euro took on so much attention and importance?

What is a true representation of the sport? An abridged version, made up of teams with expats and retiring players who will make up teams like Major League Cricket in the USA in a couple of years time?

When purely commercial interests drive even a body like the Olympics to include a sport not for its high-value quality but for its ability to bring it a market, it feels like a self-goal, not done for the right reasons, which is marrying the two because it enhances sport at the highest echelons. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍'Coin Burning' Is A New Fad In Cryptocurrency Business?

‘Coin Burning’ has become one of the most popular aspects of the digital currency industry right now. Burning coins essentially eliminates them from their available supply, and raises their relative scarcity.

Digital currencies have gained importance in daily news and investor interest over the last year and a half. Although there are still a few notable sceptics, the relevance of digital currencies and blockchain technology is gaining traction among investors. Even though digital currencies have only been around for a short time, specific trends have come and gone. ‘Coin Burning’ has become one of the most popular aspects of the digital currency industry right now.

What is Coin Burning?

Coin-burning is the permanent elimination of existing cryptocurrency coins from circulation to make them unusable. This burning process is an intentional action exercised by the coin’s creators to “burn” or remove from circulation and a specific number from the total available tokens in continuation. These coins are sent to the ‘eater address’ for their destruction, also known as a ‘blackhole’. 

Larger blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum do not generally employ this mechanism. Instead, altcoins and smaller tokens are often burnt to command their supply offering significant incentives to investors.
This burning mechanism gives a distinct feature to cryptocurrency from regular fiat currencies, which are generally not burnt, though the flow of available cash is otherwise regulated.

Various Benefits for Investors

Usually, investors burn coins with the hope to increase their value. For example, 55 Billion XML’s were burnt to increase the coin’s value. However, this burn dramatically reduced XLM supply by over 50 per cent. The price impact on XLM was instantly noticeable in the short term, jumping from 0.069 to 0.088 dollars in a day — around 25 per cent from November 5th to November 6th.
Moreover, continuous burning keeps a coin’s value steady in the short run and results in value appreciation over the long term. For example, burning has helped XRP’s price remain stable, between 0.28 dollar and 0.31 dollar between November 2019 and August 2020.

Token burning acts much like share buyback by companies. The coins can be repurchased at reasonable rates and then instantly burned to increase the value of each holder’s existing token amount. Also, coins are generally repurchased at market price to return their investments in the currency.

In addition, coin burning assists as a natural mechanism to prevent spam transactions and safeguards against a Distributed Denial of Service Attack (DDOS) — a sort of human backed virus attack. 

Proof-of-Burn

A unique mechanism that emerges from token burning is the proof-of-burn (PoB) consensus, based on users destroying their tokens to gain mining rights. Proof-of-work continues to be a popular choice, mainly due to its advocacy by Bitcoin, but it consumes significant resources and can be uneconomic. PoB tries to address this issue by limiting the number of miners that can verify and attach other blocks to the blockchain to match the number of tokens they’ve burned.

The POB system also involves a mechanism that encourages burning cryptocurrencies regularly to maintain mining power and avoid unfair advantages to early adopters. Each time a new block is mined, the power of burned coins “decays” or diminishes partly. Instead of a one-time, early expenditure, it encourages miners to engage in a routine activity. Miners may need to invest in improved equipment regularly to maintain a competitive advantage as technology improves. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍Why ‍'Political Bazaar' Getting 'Hot' In Telangana?

Telangana people are quite surprised upon heating up the political activities in the state for a by-election in Huzurabad to dominates the supremacy over one and other political parties poll-strategies and electioneering tactics.

As #KhabarLive analyzed the entire situation, reveal the political supermacy dominates the major political parties. Its still more than two years for Assembly elections in Telangana but the series of yatras, rallies and meetings by the political parties have created a poll-like atmosphere in the state.

A series of developments and hectic activity by all major political players has increased the political temperature in the state, where elections are due towards the end of 2023.

Opposition parties are vying with each other in targeting Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) for its failures even as Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao himself is leading the counter-attack from the ruling party by rolling out a slew of schemes.

With the by-election to the Huzurabad Assembly seat likely to be held soon, both the ruling and opposition parties are going all out to woo the voters. By announcing 'Dalit Bandhu' and an insurance scheme for weavers and by luring some top leaders of the Congress, BJP and TDP into its camp, the TRS is leaving no stone unturned to ensure a victory in Huzurabad.

The by-election has become a battle of prestige for the TRS as Eatala Rajender, who was dropped from the State Cabinet in May following allegations of land grabbing, will be contesting as the BJP candidate.

As Rajender had been winning the seat since 2009, the BJP is hoping to ride on his popularity in the constituency to deal a blow to the TRS ahead of the next Assembly polls. The leaders of the saffron party hope that a win in Huzurabad will boost its confidence to achieve the goal of coming to power in the country's youngest state.

The recent elevation of G. Kishan Reddy as an independent minister in Prime Minister Narendra Modi's cabinet has boosted the morale of the saffron party, which had set alarm bells ringing in the TRS camp by wresting the Dubbak Assembly seat and by putting up an impressive performance in the elections to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) last year.

While returning to his home state after his elevation, union minister for tourism and culture Kishan Reddy mounted a scathing attack on TRS by undertaking a Jana Ashirwada Yatra from August 19. He slammed KCR and his family, for what he called massive corruption and for pushing the state into a debt trap.

Kishan Reddy's three-day yatra covered 305 kilometres across eight Parliament segments and 17 Assembly constituencies including Huzurabad.

The BJP is looking to mount further pressure on the ruling party as its state chief Bandi Sanjay Kumar will be launching a 'Praja Sangrama Yatra' from August 24.

The party says the walkathon, to begin from Bhagyalakshmi Temple at Charminar, is aimed at making citizens aware of the 'corrupt and dictatorial' family rule of KCR.

Sanjay, who is also the MP from Karimnagar, said the main objective of his walkathon is to enthuse the people to protest against the TRS government as it has failed to justify the reasons for which the separate state was formed.

"We need to free Telangana Talli (mother Telangana) from this corrupt family regime which is not at all concerned with people's issues. We have to take the failures of the government to the people at every booth level and understand the people's concerns which would help during our manifesto preparation," he said.

During the yatra, the BJP leader also plans to receive representations from people about the unfulfilled promises of the TRS government and also the complaints about not receiving the benefits under various welfare schemes. The saffron party will forward these representations to the government.

The BJP's central leadership will be keenly following the walkathon, which is expected to set the tone for the Huzurabad bypoll and the next Assembly elections.

The success of Sanjay's yatra will be crucial for the party to bounce back after receiving a jolt in the recent by-election in Nagarjuna Sagar Assembly constituency and the Legislative Council polls from the graduates' constituencies. The saffron party lost the lone Legislative Council seat it was holding and had a disastrous performance in Nagarjuna Sagar, where its candidate forfeited the deposit.

A rejuvenated Congress party has also stepped up its activities. With A. Revanth Reddy taking over as the president of the party's state unit last month, it has become aggressive in taking up various issues and targeting the TRS government over what it called its unfulfilled promises and failures.

During the last few days, Revanth Reddy led two major public meetings as part of its Dalita Girijana Atma Gaurava Dandora (Movement for SC/ST self-respect). Through this statewide campaign, the party is trying to woo Dalits and tribals by highlighting how the TRS government neglected them during the last seven years.

The Congress is upbeat over the huge public response it received at its meetings at Indravelli in Adilabad district and at Raviryala on the outskirts of Hyderabad. It is now planning to organise a third public meeting in Gajwel, the constituency represented by KCR.

The Congress, like the BJP, is also targeting KCR for announcing 'Dalit Bandhu' only to garner the votes of Dalits in the Huzurabad bypoll. "After the by-election, KCR will again forget Dalits. Why is he not implementing Dalit Bandhu across the state, why only in Huzurabad," asked Revanth Reddy.

The TPCC chief also recalled that KCR did not fulfil his promises of installing a 125-feet Ambedkar statue in Hyderabad, three acres of land to each landless Dalit family, KG to PG free education and a job to every household.
Buoyed by the huge public response to its meetings, the state Congress leadership has decided to invite party leader Rahul Gandhi to a series of public meetings in the run up to the 2023 Assembly elections.

Rahul Gandhi is likely to address a public meeting in Warangal next month as part of Dalita Girijana Atma Gaurava Dandora. The party is planning the meet as a massive show of strength before the Huzurabad bypoll.

The Congress party has started the groundwork for the next Assembly polls. Manickam Tagore, AICC in-charge of Telangana, held a review meeting with party leaders in Nagarkurnool parliamentary constituency on August 20 and directed all party leaders and those who unsuccessfully contested the 2018 and 2019 polls to start working in their respective constituencies by meeting the people.

"Talk to voters, spend time with them, list their problems and find out what they have to say about the unfulfilled promises of the TRS and BJP governments in the state and at the Centre respectively," he said.
Claiming that the political situation in the state is turning in favour of the Congress, Revanth Reddy said the party is certain to win at least 72 of the 119 constituencies in the elections to the Assembly whenever they are held.

The newly formed YSR Telangana Party (YSRTP) led by Y S Sharmila has also launched its activities, adding to the political buzz in the state. The sister of Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy is undertaking a fast every week over the issue of unemployment. After calling on the families of unemployed people who committed suicide, she sits on a day-long fast every Tuesday. She is demanding that the government fulfil its promise of filling all vacancies in various departments and providing jobs to all.

Three days ago she also staged a protest in Mulugu district over the issue of podu lands or the lands tilled by tribals. She accused KCR of cheating tribals by not fulfilling his earlier promise to resolve the podu lands issue. She assured her party's support to tribals, demanding that the government give them ownership right of podu lands.

Amid the stepped up activity by the opposition parties, Chief Minister KCR visited Huzurabad constituency on August 16, launched his ambitious scheme 'Dalit Bandhu' and addressed a huge public meeting. The scheme was launched on a pilot basis in Huzurabad and he promised that all Dalit families in the state will receive benefits under the scheme. Every Dalit family will get a Rs 10 lakh grant under the scheme to start a business of its choice, he said. Hitting back at his political rivals, KCR asked why their governments in the states or at the Centre never thought of designing a scheme to empower Dalits.

The politics over Dalits in the state took an interesting turn this month when former IPS officer R. S. Praveen Kumar joined the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP). Kumar, who held the rank of Additional Director General of Police, took voluntary retirement last month. The officer urged Dalits to become rulers and not slaves. He joined the BSP at a massive public meeting at Nalgonda on August 8. On Dalit Bandhu, he said that the scheme was a constitutional right and not anybody's charity.

He told KCR that the money he was spending on the scheme was what weaker sections had earned by tilling the land. "If you have any love for Dalits, spend your money on them," he said. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍The Plight Of Street Hawkers, Foothpath-Sellers And Small Vendors In Hyderabad

The post-pandemic situation is becoming horrible in terms of rehabilitation and steps to make them atma-nirbhar went in vain due to many factors in Hyderabad.  The street vendors  footpath sellers and hawkers are financially suffering and no help provided to them.

For petty traders, who make a living by selling food items, vegetables, fruits, cheap cosmetic products and all and sundry on their push carts, life has turned topsy-turvy following the outbreak of Covid-19 pandemic.

These traders are yet to come to their normal lives or back to their regular earnings, even after 18 months of malady. Most of these push cart hawkers are settlers from other towns. Many left their families at their hometown and returned to the capital as their earnings dropped drastically.

Each cart which used to do an average business of Rs 2,000 each day before March 2020 is not even in a position to make around Rs 5,00 to Rs 600.

After the ease of the first lockdown, many lost employment and lot of migrants have not returned, as schools, colleges and offices are still operating from homes.

Vijay Pandit, a resident of Jharkhand, who has a fruit-juice push cart, near Music College, Ramkoti, said, “I have been doing business with this ‘bandi’ since 1993. This city has given me so much. Before the lockdown, I used to make around Rs 2,000 each day, now we don’t even make Rs 500. Almost one year we have been without business. I have four daughters and one son. I left them at our home town as it’s hard to take care of their expenses in the city as of now.”

Bhasker Rao, another push cart vendor, says, “We are in a bad situation, the lockdown pushed us into utter poverty. We believe in hard work and don’t expect any aid from anyone. We just hope things will be back to normal and we get back our business.”

Raju Yadhav, a pani puri vendor, says, “The business is very bad, two lockdowns made our business go down. Customers we used to have before the pandemic rarely visit us.”

It has been seven years since the Street Vendors Act (Protection of Livelihood) came into force, but the vendors in the city say that they are still awaiting the complete implementation of the Act.

Speaking to #KhabarLive, K Naipal Reddy, who runs a tiffin cart in LB Nagar said, “There has been no town-vending committee. Even if the officials conduct a meeting, we are only told where we should put the waste. There is no communication amongst the line departments. The police come and harass us. They give no regard to the fact that we have been given an ID card by the GHMC.  The police throw the card away and say that they do not have any knowledge of the town vending committee.”

There has been no end to harassment from various persons for street vendors. They rue that they have only been issued an ID card by the GHMC and not a street-vending certificate.

“Without the certificate, there is no way of establishing ourselves as street vendors. Every fortnight the police come to our cart and harass us. They usually ask things like, who gave you permission to sell here?” said Venkat Mohan, president, Telangana Street Vendors and Hawkers’ Union.

For those at the Secunderabad station road, vendors like James John said there was supposed to be a committee meeting with the GHMC commissioner. “There is no protection of the street-vendors. We have faced heavy loss due to the lockdown. We are still living under the fear of cops who can come and vacate us at a moment’s notice. Even the ID cards given to us are of no use,” he said.

Some even said that there had been instances when people would walk up to them posing as officials of the state government, and ask them for money.  “There have been instances when people would walk up to us, posing as police or any other official and ask us to move our carts,” said Venkat Mohan.

On the other hand, Hyderabad received ‘Creative City of Gastronomy’ award from UNESCO (United Nations Economic, Social and Cultural Organisation), in 2019 failed to stick to the vital parameter of keeping the importance of hawkers and their efforts in strengthening the urban economy.

The civic body, in its report submitted to the UNESCO, stated that apart from making creative food at affordable prices, the hawker community also added employment for two lakh individuals in the unorganised sector. It also said in the employment generation sector, the IT segment contributed four lakh jobs in the city, which is only restricted to one part of the city. However, apathy of policymakers in the GHMC has been depriving hawkers and vendors of availing PM SVANidhi (PM Street Vendor’s Atma Nirbhar Nidhi), a micro credit scheme for street vendors.

Every year, the Centre promotes setting up vending zones in cities and sanctions funds for the same to municipalities. The GHMC is lagging behind in utilising those funds for promoting and improving street vendors’ business.

According to GHMC officials, a total of 34,878 street vendors in the city who were affected by the Covid-19 lockdown last year were given Rs 10,000 immediate relief by the civic body, the highest in the country. However, almost same number was affected during the current year's lockdown and the corporation authorities are yet to upload the data into PM SVANidhi.

This apart, non-regularisation of street vendors has left several thousands of them unable to reclaim their ‘vending zones’ after the footpath encroachment removal drive in 2018. A look at the Mission for the Elimination of Poverty in Municipal Areas (MEPMA) figures brings to light that there are 69,331 street vendors in Telangana of which more than 24,000 street vendors reside in the GHMC limits. These vendors were expected to do their businesses in the 750 free vending zones identified by respective urban local bodies, most of which are located at specific areas, defeating the purpose of wide scale inclusion.

There are only 300 restricted vending zones created while there are over 200 no vending-zones. The GHMC is yet to ascertain the exact number of vending zones, as per MEPMA data. On the contrary, the GHMC data suggests, till date, the municipal corporation has identified over 1.56 lakh street vendors in its limits and issued identity cards to nearly 1.44 lakh of them.

The GHMC may be leading in terms of issuing identity cards to street vendors, but the same spirit is missing when it comes to setting up vending zones for street vendors. However, the GHMC claimed that the demarcation of 138 vending zones were completed out of a total 152 identified, but could not shift the vendors to these zones till date.

According to the GHMC corporators, the corporation's enforcement displaced over 50,000 petty hawkers and vendors since 2018 when the civic body embarked on the footpath encroachment removal drive and by levying hefty fines to them which has been continuing till date. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍‍Will Dry Fruit Supply Dry Up From Afghanistan To Hyderabad?

With Kabul falling into the hands of the Taliban, bilateral import-export trade between Afghanistan particularly that of dry fruits is likely to be adversely impacted.

The demand for dry fruits increases during the rainy season and due to Raksha Bandhan, but due to lack of supply, the prices are seeing an increase of about 7-12 percent. Within a week, the rates have surged by Rs 200-250 per kg. across the country.

India gets dried raisin, walnut, almond, fig, pine nut, pistachios, dried apricot and fresh fruits such as apricot, cherry, watermelon, and medicinal herbs. India's outbound shipments to that country include tea, coffee, pepper and cotton, toys, footwear, and various other consumable items.

The Afghan developments have left the dry fruit traders worried. Most of these imports from Afghanistan enter India via Pakistan from Attari border in Punjab and are supplied to northern parts of the country including Delhi. Hyderabad which is another major dry fruit importer from Afghanistan gets dry fruits via Mumbai and Dubai.

Traders are now worried on two counts. One, most of the imports which transit through Pakistan are currently stuck in Pakistan. Apart from not getting their supplies, the money they had invested to buy dry fruits is also stuck. Traders say that they have been feeling the pinch of Afghan developments for past one and half months and now they would face real problem.

Prices of all dry fruits have already started skyrocketing. For past one week, traders in Mumbai are unable to contact their suppliers in Afghanistan and cargo movement has totally stopped. Since Hyderabad gets its stocks from Mumbai, Hyderabad market too seems to be in for a gloomy situation.

Traders now recall the first ever dry fruit exhibition that was held during the annual Numaish, (Industrial Exhibition) at Nampally exhibition grounds in 2018. People from Afghanistan had come all the way and had set up stalls which proved to be runaway hit. Huge crowds were seen in front of stalls selling original Almonds, pistachios, walnuts, dates, cashewnuts, peanuts, dried apricots, blueberries etc.

The main reason for this craze was because they are organic and the quality is highly superior. Afghanistan is one of the leading producers of dry fruits in the world and among the world's tastiest. The flavour and taste is something which people particularly those from the old city are not able to forget.

The process of drying fruits is a family business in Afghanistan that has been passed down from one generation to another for many years. People typically dry their fruit in an entirely natural way either in the sun or, as it is the case with certain varieties of grapes, in unique 'raisin rooms' known as khasmish khana. Lets hope Achche Din for dry fruits will return soon. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍How Fintech And Edutech Companies Calling The Shots In Cricket Sponsorship?

The much hyped Bitcoin exchange platforms are the latest to join the cricket sponsorship bandwagon already in the grip of edutech and real money gaming players.

Cricket press conferences can be predictable and mundane in nature. It can be worse if the speaker, invariably a top cricketer or coach, is a poor speaker.

Recently, virtual press conference called by the title sponsors of the Sri Lanka vs India limited overs series in Colombo was one such -- boring.

But if the media had cared to grill the two new-age companies -- Unacademy for CoinDCX -- who have taken to cricket sponsorship in a big way, the session could have been more interesting.

Most reporters who logged in on Thursday had little inclination to know about why edutech and fintech companies are seriously making inroads into sports sponsorship.

Hence after a few predictable questions to Yuzvendra Chahal and even more anticipated answers, the press conference was over in about 15 minutes.

If cricket is a roaring business today, it's because of the money edutech companies like Unacademy or Byju's are spending. Fintech made its presence felt in IPL 2020 with CRED becoming a BCCI partner. Newer players like Upstox are fast emerging.

A new bred of spenders have arrived from the Bitcoin/cryptocurrency space. Whether they will catch the imagination of people is another matter but fintech companies are going full steam to display their wares through all available media channels.

Not sure if CRED were able to make an impact during IPL 2020 with a slew of TV commercials that seemingly lacked imagination and weird.

Retired cine superstars like Anil Kapoor, Madhuri Dixit and musician Bappi Lahiri clearly didn't drive the CRED message despite consuming plenty of expensive commercial time. They were subsequently dropped.

CRED, of course, roped in former Indian cricket captain Rahul Dravid in their next series of TVCs. But it was not the brand but the 'Wall' who made news for his unusual "anger issues" and it was still not clear if CRED actually profited from the advertisement.

But that's not stopping fintech companies from jumping into the cricket sponsorship bandwagon. A financially struggling Sri Lanka was perhaps a perfect starting point for CoinDCX. They are the title sponsors of the three-match T20 Cup.

Ramalingam Subramanium, the marketing head of CoinDCX, admitted Bitcoins were new in India and the sponsorship was part of the plan to build awareness.

"Cricket has a mass appeal and it pans across generations. As we see crypto evolving in India, awareness and education is key for sustainable growth. By partnering and sponsoring the tournament, we believe we'll be able to bring right kind of awareness in the category," said Subramanium.

Sumit Gupta, the CEO of Coin DCX says: "Almost 30-40% of the audience that watches or follows cricket in India is in their early 20s or 30s and with that viewership as the base, we aim to reach out to the millennial and Gen-Z populations in the Indian market, who have either already invested in cryptocurrency or are curious about or interested in them and hence most likely to consider investing in crypto assets."

While CoinDCX will be the title sponsors, another company in similar business, WazirX will be co-presenting sponsor for the live streaming of the Sri Lanka vs India series.

Unacademy, which are the title sponsors of the three-match Sri Lanka vs India ODI series, seems to be leveraging its brand name better. It's marriage with education has been boosted by meaningful association with former cricket stars like Sourav Ganguly.

Unacademy is an IPL sponsor, too. They even wanted to be the title sponsors of IPL 2020 but fantasy cricket operators Dream11 outbid them in a close fight.

"Edutech and sports are actually a natural fit, not just in terms of the demographics but also the way the new generation consumes content. Both students and their parents follow sport, and cricket in particular is massive with a cumulative audience northwards of 400 million for an IPL season alone," said Karan Shroff, Unacademy's chief marketing officer.

"Add to this the fact that the younger generation's involvement with their mobile and computer screens (whether for learning or for entertainment) and their involvement in sport are not mutually exclusive, and we have a winning proposition of reaching out to these new learners who are breaking free of the traditional modes, in their natural habitat in a sense," explains Shroff.
 
There is a huge probability that edu and fintech companies may rule sponsorship in the Indian market, if not globally. With real money gaming facing uncertain times in high courts and even the Prime Minister's Office, operators like Dream11 and MPL may become increasingly circumspect.

Dream11 and MPL, of course have deep pockets with big investors backing them. Both are heavily involved with Indian cricket but deep down they know the honeymoon can end if the government equates the real money gaming business as betting or gambling.

MPL is already exploring the Esports market very seriously and has even tied up with the Indian Olympic Association ahead of the Tokyo Olympics.

From an ease of business point of view, these fledgling fintech and edutech companies have a clear vision, says Bhairav Shanth of ITW.

"The new age tech companies are more open to innovation and know what is the outcome or brand impact they are seeking. Since they operate in a digital environment where everything is trackable, the outcomes can be optimised by selecting the right property," explains Shanth.

ITW is a leading player in securing sports sponsorships and brand promotion. ITW works with some of the top cricket boards of the world and is also a partner of Sri Lanka Cricket too.

Shanth says: "Typically the brick and mortar brands mainly want brand visibility and are generally risk averse. Digital companies are agile and adaptive, they can tweak or adjust a campaign based on how it is delivering on their desired outcome.

"On the contrary, traditional brands have more of a legacy approach with preset ways of running a campaign. To use a music analogy, we can say one is consistent, sort of like legendary rockers Pink Floyd, while the other is evolving and agile, a bit like the K-pop chart busters BTS."

The traditional sponsors are surely on their way out. Coca-Cola, associated with football and the Olympics, are long-term global players with billion dollar deals with organisations like FIFA and International Olympic Committee.

The cricket ecosystem is much smaller compared to football or the Olympics. In keeping with the changing times in cricket and a proliferation of Twenty20, the likes of Unacademy, CoinDCX et al are expected to play smart and get the mileage they want. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍When ‍A Cancer Survivor Turned As Successful Home Entrepreneur In Hyderabad...

A cancer survivor Santosh Daga (45) picked up Art as diversion while on a hospital bed getting treated for Cancer is now not only a happy survivor but thanks to the art picked up she has emerged as a successful home entrepreneur. 

https://youtu.be/gC1SBakexJI

Wow, what confidence, what a talent, these are the few words that come to your mind instantly when you see the works and talent of Santosh Daga, an exhibitor at just Mahila Jagruti in Hyderabad.  

She has put up a stall “Dagas Craft Valley” at the 3-day exhibition at EF Garden, Opp Apollo Hospital, Hyderguda which kicked off with a huge draw. 

She has displayed unique wall clocks, Money Tree Frames, Photo Frames, Name Plates. All are handcrafted. But, still what is so different about them. Yes, there is. She has picked up the art while lying on a hospital bed, getting treated for cancer. 

Last year November when the whole world was under the grip of Corona she was taking her chemotherapy treatment to fight cancer.   The pain caused by chemotherapy is often described as a burning, numbness, tingling, or shooting sensation. She didn’t want to cry and curse. Instead she decided to do something creative, constructive to engage herself to divert her mind. Doctors treating her Dr. Mohan Vamshi, Sushil Vamshi and Mohan Narayan  told her husband to allow her to do what she wanted to do and they encouraged her. 

Her Craft Venture “Daga Art Valley” is a name to reckon for Hand Crafted, innovative Wall Clocks, Wall Frames, Photo Frames and Name Plates

Wall Clock made up of Dry Fruits, Money Tree made using coins which are no longer in circulation are sold like hot cakes.  

If you have a strong will power you can fight anything.  They can cure even the most dreaded diseases she says.  

Now she is a happy Cancer Survivor very successful home art enterprenerur. Everybody liked her art and works. She has already sold 60 to 70 of her masterpieces. Now she wants to continue that as her profession. 

Mayank her husband, 21 years old son encouraged her. She is comfortable doing this business from home. She has a Dry Fruit Wall Clock made up of all dry fruits. One cannot imagine that a wall clock can be used so aesthetically using dry fruits. SAhe is an ideal wall clock for a Dry Fruit Store she says.  

Santosh Daga says it costs Rs 7000/- and was specially made for Dry Fruit Shops. She is a creative genius. She converted Dosa Pan into a beautiful wall clock. Using old coins which are no longer in circulation, she made a Money Tree Photo Frame. It is priced at Rs 2500/- and a must to have piece. When the frame adorns the walls the entire place gains importance. 

Her unique products are priced in the range of Rs 1100/ to 7000/- She takes four days to make each art piece.  I don’t repeat the models she says.  

I outsource these out of circulation coins through antique dealers. Thus make it very rare.  What is rare is precious, she says.  She has made so many tailor-made clocks to suit the client’s business. 

If I cry, my pain will not go away. If I smile, people will smile back. But if I cry, nobody will cry with me and share my pain. That is why I wanted to do something creative, says Santosh Daga. 

We wish everybody has such courage like Santosh Daga to fight cancer and come back successful.  She not only fought it successful but she picked up an art in the difficult times and now emerged successfully. The art she picked up while getting treated for cancer is turned out to be a full time money spinning profession for her.  Her journey of conquering cancer through art is very inspirational. #KhabarLive #hydnews

Covid-Induced 'Work From Home' Concept Hits Govt Revenues hard In Telangana

It is not just the shortage of beds, medicines or oxygen that had caused problems for the State Government during the last two waves of corona pandemic. There is another serious cause of worry for the government and that is the concept of work from home which is becoming a hurdle to get proper Revenues from IT sector.

When there was an outbreak of corona cases during the first wave, all IT companies and ITES (IT Enabled Services) announced work from home policy to avoid spread of the virus. This concept of course had its own impact on the employees who feel that they are under greater work pressure now but as far as the government is concerned, it has a much bigger cause of worry.

The IT companies from Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru which had planned to expand their branches to Hyderabad have now seem to have backtracked.
They are employing people but are encouraging them to work from home. This is adding to the worries of the government as the WFH system by the existing companies has resulted in revenue loss of nearly Rs 3,000 crore and has taken away the indirect employment of cabs, air travel, hospitality industry and other services provided by the IT firms. 

Now the decision of the many companies to encourage WFH model instead of opening new branches is threatening to result in a major blow to the revenue earning of the governments.

A top official of the state Commercial Taxes department told The Hans India that the WFH option has been playing a big havoc on the services' sectors which depend on IT companies.

Some small IT and ITES companies have vacated the campuses in Hi-Tech city. As a result, economic activity has come to standstill. If the companies run their business as usual, the government will earn money through tax collections like property taxes and turnover tax. Once the companies shift their operations from their head office to some other place in the country, the State starts losing tax money earned in different forms. Officials say that about 15 to 20 small and medium IT companies have vacated the offices in Hyderabad to cut the establishment expenses after the employees were given WFH option in March 2020. Another 10 to 15 companies headquartered in Gurgaon and Punjab have postponed their plan to open their branches in Hyderabad.

Officials said that nearly 15,000 to 20,000 working in the service sectors like canteen operations, interior and office maintenance in the IT companies have lost their livelihood. The firms engaged in the service sectors stopped filing tax returns and it was a stark example of the impact of the work from home.

"Taking commercial spaces on lease in the IT zones has also stopped. Hospitality industry and recreational zones in the IT zone have registered the lowest ever flow of visitors," said an official.

The Commercial Taxes department officials want the government to take initiative to revive the business activity in the IT zones and see that they reopen with 50 per cent attendance. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

‍‍‍‍Why Telangana's Economy Cannot Afford Another Lockdown?

As experts warn of a potential third Covid wave, many Telanganaiets are worried about their next paycheck. Small businesses and informal workers fear another lockdown could spell an end to their livelihoods.

As a delayed monsoon finally reaches Telangana, shopkeepers at a local market duck under covers and frantically attempt to keep their merchandise from getting wet.

They say they cannot afford any further blow to their small business following more than a year of erratic income due to the coronavirus pandemic. Now there is fear of another crippling COVID-induced lockdown.
"This government cannot survive another lockdown," Kiran Kumar tells #KhabarLive. "They will get voted out if further restrictions are imposed on us."

Kumar runs a small shop in Hyderabad’s upscale Charminar Market. His tiny shop, a 3-foot-by-3-foot (.28 square meters) hole in a wall filled with clothes, is still able to feed his family of five.

But as experts warn of a potential third COVID wave in the coming months, India's flagging economy — especially the micro, medium and small scale enterprise (MSME) sector — could face devastating repercussions from another lockdown.

Of the 63.4 million units that make up India's MSME sector, 99.4% are micro-enterprises, government data shows.

Located about 15 meters from Kumar's store is the Faqir Chand bookstore. Abhinav's family has been running the shop for four generations. The bookstore has seen numerous periods of severe political instability, economic downturns, and most recently, second wave of the coronavirus.

Shops closed down nationwide and offices resumed home office.
"The store was closed for nearly three months," Abhinav tells #KhabarLive. The family left for their hometown in a nearby state.

"We were among the luckier ones," he says. But for many people like Kumar, shutting shop even for a few days has serious repercussions, and working from home was not an option.

In the midst of the second wave, the government released data that indicated that Telangana's gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 1.6% in the January-March quarter of the 2020-21 fiscal year, just as coronavirus infections were rising. A contraction of 7.3% was reported for the entire fiscal year.

But some economists slammed the data as vastly exclusionary.
"Our GDP data just doesn't take the unorganized sector into account. It is entirely based on the organized sector, and largely the corporate sector data," Indian economist Arun Kumar told #KhabarLive.

Kumar recently authored a book about the economic impact of the pandemic, titled Indian Economy's Greatest Crisis: Impact of Coronavirus and the Road Ahead.

"The behavior of the unorganized sector is very different from that of the organized sector. The latter braved the storm a little better, but mostly at the expense of the unorganized sector," he said.

"If the unorganized sector and the destruction of agriculture are taken into account, the economy contracted by 29%," Kumar added.

Most Indians typically purchase daily necessities from a local store close to their homes. But during COVID, many have turned to online shopping, much to the dismay of small neighborhood stores.

As India continues to record about 40,000 new infections daily, medical experts have warned of an impending third wave that could jeopardize efforts to bring the economy back on track.

"When the cases started to spike in February, we knew another wave was coming but our expertise was disregarded," Dr. Rajan Sharma, former president of the Indian Medical Association, told #KhabarLive. "No one was prepared for what followed."

The pandemic moves in ebbs and flows, and no expert can give a date when a third wave will start nor its intensity, Sharma explained.

Vaccinating a large part of the population is crucial in preventing a significant rise in infections, he added.

More than six months after India began the world's largest vaccination drive, only 7% of the country's population has been fully vaccinated.
"Vaccinating a population as vast as ours is a monumental task," he says. "In addition to acquiring the number of shots required, people also need to trust medical advice."

According to Sharma, doctors also need to be stakeholders in policy formulation to successfully manage future waves.

"The country needs an 'Indian Medical Service' just like it has the 'Indian Administrative Service' or 'Indian Revenue Service.'"

India faces the dual challenge of ramping up vaccinations in the interiors of the country and reviving its flailing economy.

The government needs to cater to the micro sector by providing help in the form of marketing, finance, technology, Kumar said.

"The economy is suffering from a lack of demand. If the people don't have the purchasing power, the economy cannot recover," Kumar said, adding India should boost rural employment guarantee schemes and launch similar schemes in urban areas for the unemployed.

But for now, the small shop owners at MJ Market do not have the luxury to think about the state of country's economy. For now, Ashish Kumar needs to protect his merchandise from the rain and buy rice to feed his family. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍‍‍Why Telangana Police Overdoing '‍Cordon and Search' Operations?

The Cordon and Search operations (CASO) conducted by police to combat crime from the society. But nowadays, police frequently conducting CASO and common public is facing more difficulties during night time and lonely women and elderly persons too.

Is the Telangana Police, which likes to call itself people-friendly, overdoing on the Cordon and Search operations (CASO -- essentially a military or counterinsurgency operation) to serve its own interests without there being any need for such operations in routine crime control in the first place? The answer, unfortunately, is in the affirmative if one considers the nature, number and types of CASO operations in the twin cities and elsewhere in the state.

'Cordon and search' is a military tactic to cordon off an area and search the premises for weapons or insurgents.  Used mainly in counter-insurgency operations, there are two sub-categories of CASO: 'cordon and knock' (with permission) and 'cordon and kick' (without permission).  

However, for reasons best known to the Telangana Police, in a few areas of Hyderabad the police simply assume that criminals are living there and do not flinch from knocking each and every door during CASO. This has pitted the police against social activists and raised questions about the legality of some of these CASOs.

Informed sources pointed out that the process normally used to trace terrorists in Kashmir by the military has been adopted by the TS Police to catch even petty criminals. They say there is no particular act or section in law that specifically allows CASO of the TS Police variant. An RTI query yielded a 'reply' that the question was "Not Applicable".  

The police, however, defend CASOs, saying they have always been helpful for them to identify a few criminals and criminals from outside who may be hiding in particular places.

Cordon and Search Operations were started by the military in Kashmir in 2002 to identify separatists and terrorists. Following huge resistance, they were suspended briefly, but resumed again in 2017. In Hyderabad and elsewhere in the state, CASOs started in 2013. They were intensified when the police were pursuing members of the so-called 'snake gang' in the Old City. Since then, the police have been doing CASOs regularly. The operations were suspended due to corona, but resumed in March, 2021.

When it was resumed, Commissioner of Cyberabad Police V.C.Sajjanar told the media: "As the situation comes to normal, we will continue CASO. It is very helpful for us to identify and catch criminals and suspects. Many outsiders, who have committed crimes, are coming here and taking shelter. We can find such types of elements."

The larger question is: On what basis the police are entering houses and interrogating those people who are living there? The police are citing a petition, which had been dismissed by the High Court, in which the petitioner claimed that CASO was illegal and wanted the authorities to stop it.

However, the Court then merely asked the petitioner to approach police officials first on the issue. It did not give any clean chit to the Police. Nor did it authorize CASO.
A police official said: "We will list out cases in our Police Stations. We suspect that a few (criminals) are hiding in particular areas. Naming those cases, we will get a warrant. With that warrant only we will go for CASO".

The reports of the police say that no terrorist or big criminal was found in their CASOs. Yet, they claim, without any evidence, that they got "scoops or information, which helped to catch terrorists".

At the time of public outrage over CAA, NRC and NPR, some people resisted CASO and refused to show their Aadhaar cards. Moreover, asking for Aadhaar cards is against the Supreme Court's order. Local MIM leaders have also argued with the police on these lines. However, after a gap, the police have started CASOs again.

Social activists have alleged that the police are stamping a few areas as 'criminal areas'. In the name of search, they are insulting poor people who cannot question them.  
M.Srinivas, a social activist, said: "Can they can go and conduct CASO in Banjara Hills, where so many white-collar criminals are living  -- those who are doing land-grabbing, making fake documents? Can they dare to enter gated communities for CASO? Can they assure that there are no criminals in those areas? No. Recently an imported cars scam happened.

The Directorate of Intelligence Revenue identified that many cars were purchased by the people of Hyderabad. Can the police go to each and every imported car owner's house and ask for papers? No. The police are showing immature approach towards poor people."

Srinivas further said: "In CASO, they are seizing bikes without papers mostly. Once they have seized pickles prepared by a family, saying that the products are not up to the standards."

Social activists are arguing that if a case is registered and the police get to know that the suspect is living in a particular area, then the police can watch those areas and maintain a beat to catch those criminals.

"How can you enter each and every house, insulting people living there," they ask. They are demanding that the police must stop CASO and maintain vigil to find criminals. They have no business to knock each and every door even if they are after a criminal. #KhabarLive #hydnews

‍Telangana CM ‍KCR's Dalit Outreach Raises Political Dust Ahead Of Huzurabad By-Election

The Huzurabad Assembly constituency in Telangana is witnessing an intense political bickering between ruling TRS and the opposition parties over an ambitious scheme announced by Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao to woo Dalits.

The Dalit Bandhu scheme, aimed at providing financial assistance to identified Dalit families and promote entrepreneurship among them, has raised the political temperature in the state even before the announcement of the bypoll schedule by the Election Commission.

With the Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) government going ahead with the launch of Dalit Bandhu as a pilot project in the Huzurabad constituency, the opposition parties have dubbed it as a poll stunt and questioned KCR's concern for Dalits.

The Chief Minister has defended his move for implementation of the scheme on pilot basis in Huzurabad saying there is nothing wrong if TRS was looking to derive political mileage from this.

Citing the Chief Minister's statement, some NGOs have moved the Election Commission of India and even the high court seeking directions to stop the scheme.

Social activist Akkala Suresh Kumar has filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) at the Telangana High Court challenging Dalit Bandhu's implementation in Huzurabad.

He argues that the government should start implementation of the scheme in any the 16 Assembly constituencies reserved for Scheduled Castes in the state.
By-election to Huzurabad, which is an open Assembly seat, is likely to be held soon.

The seat fell vacant last month with the resignation of former minister Eatala Rajender. He also quit TRS to join the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which has already decided to give him the ticket for the bypoll.
Rajender's resignation from TRS and Assembly came after he was dropped from the Cabinet by KCR following allegations of land encroachment.

The Forum for Good Governance, an NGO, recently urged the Election Commission of India to stop the implementation of the Dalit Bandhu scheme in Huzurabad.

Forum secretary M. Padmanabha Reddy, in a letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, stated that due to various reasons, the by-election has become a prestige issue for the ruling party. There is a general feeling that the result of this by-election will have an impact on the next Assembly elections.

"I am not a saint living in Himalayas. I am a politician and I am introducing this scheme in Huzurabad for electoral gains only - what is wrong with it," the letter quoted the Chief Minister as saying at a recent party meeting.

Last week, KCR held a day-long meeting with 450 Dalit representatives from Huzurabad to discuss the implementation of the scheme.

He stated that by making the scheme a success in Huzurabad, it should be made a torchbearer for the Dalit community in the entire country. He claimed that the Telangana Dalit Bandhu Scheme is being implemented to remove economic disparity and also social discrimination of the Dalits.

KCR desired that with the financial assistance given under the scheme, the Dalit community should develop itself as a business community by selecting industries, employment, and business of their choice.

Under the scheme, financial assistance of Rs 10 lakh each will be provided to eligible beneficiaries from Dalit community.

Under the first phase, 100 families from each of the 119 Assembly constituencies will be identified. The government has announced an allocation of Rs 1,200 crore for the scheme.

At a meeting to welcome some leaders of the BJP and the Congress into the TRS on July 30, KCR had reiterated that the government would implement the scheme at any cost.

"Opposition parties are worried about their fate as the scheme will be implemented all over the state. It was supposed to be launched last year, but got delayed due to the Covid-19 pandemic," he had said, adding that the government is ready to spend Rs 1 lakh crore on the scheme.

He attributed the birth of several schemes in Telangana to the deep study of the lives of sections that could not benefit from development in the past.

"You need a heart to understand their plight and how they missed out," he argued.

Over the last 2-3 weeks, the Chief Minister held a series of meetings to discuss the modalities for ‘Dalit Bandhu'.

The opposition parties, however, questioned KCR's concern for Dalits. Both the Congress and the BJP reminded him of his promise made before 2014 that a Dalit will be the first Chief Minister of Telangana.

"Why not a single leader from the 18 per cent strong Dalit community was considered for the CM's post," asked state BJP chief Bandi Sanjay.

He also wanted to know what happened to KCR's promise of 3-acre land for every Dalit family and to solve the issue of ‘podu' lands tilled by the tribals.
Congress leader Dasoju Sravan wants to know what KCR did for Dalits in last seven years.

"This scheme has been announced with an eye on the by-elections. If he is really sincere in improving the socio-economic conditions, why the government is failing every year to spend the funds allocated under the SC ST Sub Plan," asked Sravan.

This Dalit outreach by the TRS chief comes at a time when there is a feeling that the backward classes are moving closer to BJP.
Rajender, who was associated with TRS since its inception, is a leader from the Mudiraj community, a backward class. Given the huge popularity he enjoys in Huzurabad, he is likely to pose a big challenge to the ruling party in the by-election.

Bandi Sanjay and another BJP MP D. Arvind are from Munnuru Kapus, one of the BC communities KCR relied for support over the last seven years.

Some political analysts also see this Dalit outreach in the context of two other key political developments -- Revanth Reddy taking over as the president of Congress party in the state and former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy's daughter Y.S. Sharmila launching her political party in Telangana.

"Dalit Bandhu has surely made heads turn in Telangana and across the country. Proposal to allocate Rs 10 lakhs per family might surely help alleviate poverty from those selected families. However, there are potential risks associated due to political implications," said political analyst Palwai Raghavendra Reddy.

He is of the view that selecting only 100 families per village will surely alienate other Dalits and economically backward sections. Unless KCR and TRS culls potential risks, road ahead will be filled with many political potholes, he observed.
Opposition parties, on the other hand, are pushed on to the backfoot on the issue of Dalit welfare.

"Both the BJP and Congress will have to make extremely convincing arguments for them to counter the advantage KCR and TRS has with Dalit Bandhu," he added. #KhabarLive #hydnews 

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.

In A Historic Verdict, Supreme Court Strikes Down Triple Talaq

For many women in India, the Supreme Court stood on the right side of history today after it struck down the practice of instant divorce called triple talaq, practiced by Sunni Muslims in the country.

In a 3-2 judgment, Justices Kurian Joseph, RF Nariman and UU Lalit struck down the practice of instant divorce, describing it as "illegal and sinful" and ruling that it violates the right to equality enshrined in the Indian constitution.

The Centre's 'City Liveability Index' Is Set To Become A Major Tracker Of Urban Indian Life

News that no Indian city made it anywhere close to the top of the latest list of most liveable cities in the world gets routinely buried in the inside pages of most newspapers. On the Internet too, such news does not figure high on the home pages of search engines, a sure way for the report getting buried somewhere deep in the cyber abyss.

India’s Pioneering Women Qazis Ask Muslim Men: Have You Read The Quran?

Newly trained women Islamic clerics, or Qazis, have started work in towns across India, offering an invaluable support system to Muslim women, and inviting opposition from orthodox circles.

Iqra's world fell apart in six months.

In her telling, it began, as it often does, with marriage. The 23-year-old's marriage to Ali was an exchange programme of sorts. Ali was her cousin, son of her khaala, her mother's sister. In turn, Iqra's brother married the same khaala's daughter. Her khaala also became her mother-in-law. Such marriage between first cousins is commonplace among Muslims in South Asia.

“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.

Diplomacy in the Age of Social Media

Public diplomacy is a buzz word that has been around for decades, but today it is well ensconced with a significant other – social media.

Diplomacy is a fine art, heir to centuries of epochal deal making, system building, peacemaking and conflict avoidance and resolution – it is, in many ways, a profession for the ages. In the minds of men and women at large, however, it is also seen as a profession conducted in rarefied environs, in dizzying ivory-towered heights, away from the hurly-burly of earthling life. In India, I have often faced the perennial question,

Animal Rights Activists Face Cattle Smugglers’ Ire

While incidents of violence purported by cow vigilantes hit the headlines, what has gone relatively unnoticed is an ever increasing spate of attacks on animal rights activists who dared to take on the smugglers of cattle and other animals.

Some of these activists, whom INNLIVE interviewed, said there is little organised resistance to the illegal trade of meat, as vigilance at the sale points and at the highways remains lax.

Now, It's Time For Cowpathy - A startup Is Looking To Rule India’s Cow Economy With Dung Soap And Urine Toothpaste

A cow is silhouetted in front of manure at the farm owned by French farmer Franck Pellerin (not pictured) in La Chapelle-Caro, central Brittany, France, September 2, 2015.

You’ve heard of ayurveda, the traditional Indian medical science. So have you about Unani, the Perso-Arabic healing science. Then there is homeopathy.

Now prepare for Cowpathy.

No, it is not a whole new medical system. It is a Mumbai-based company that makes consumer products said to have high medicinal value and completely based on the cow—it uses ingredients such as dung, urine, clarified butter or ghee, and others.

‘Maybe It Is Time To Change My Son’s Name’: The New Reality Of Being Muslim In India

Rumours, lies, violence and political support for bigotry embolden many Hindus to reveal hidden prejudices.

Saira does not call her son by his name when they are out of the house. “I prefer using J, it doesn’t have a Muslim ring to it,” said Saira, 40, a former colleague whose first name I have changed on her request and whose Muslim identity was never previously a point of discussion. “I cringe as I say this, but it is true.”

Whenever J asked his mother the difference between him and his friends, she always told him there was none. They were all Indian with different names, she said. That explanation, an evidently troubled Saira told me, is weakening at a time of uncommon anti-Muslim prejudice and violence.