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With the division of Andhra Pradesh a reality now, political parties in the state are redrawing their strategies with the Lok Sabha and Legislative Assembly elections looming.

President’s rule was imposed in Andhra Pradesh as Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy and also a number of Congress MLAs quit their posts and party in Seemandhra in protest against state’s division.

Riding the formation of Telangana, the ruling Congress is hoping to make substantial gains in the region which has 17 Lok Sabha and 119 assembly segments.

Bonti, a woman who had kissed Congress Vice-president Rahul Gandhi during a recent event in Assam, has been allegedly burnt to death by her husband, according to a report in the India Today.

Reports said that a quarrel occurred between the couple over the kissing incident, following which the husband set his wife on fire.

The lady’s husband is also said to have suffered 40 percent burn injuries and is currently hospitalised.

Police suspect that she was subsequently set on fire by her husband. She suffered serious burns and later succumbed to her injuries.

Since communication skills are essential for political success, it is not surprising that the Bharatiya Janata Party’s voluble prime ministerial candidate, Narendra Modi, is edging ahead of the far more subdued Rahul Gandhi, the Congress’s frontline campaigner for the forthcoming general elections.

The President’s Rule has been imposed in Andhra Pradesh after a gap of over 41 years.

The President’s Rule was imposed in Andhra Pradesh for the first time on 11th January 1973 following breakdown of Law & Order in the State due to Jai Andhra agitation.

Ten years ago, on May 18, 2004 to be precise, the Central Hall of the Indian parliament witnessed political theatrics of an exceptional variety. Two hundred Congress leaders extremely dejected, feeling almost orphaned, desperately pleading with Congress president Sonia Gandhi to reconsider her “renunciation”, sat on one side of the rectangular table.

Ten years is a long time in the history of a political party. Since memories have faded, it is instructive to recall.

A new book ‘ The Son Also Rises,’ by academic Gregory Clark has suggested that our chances of getting on in life are largely down to what our family did 300 years ago.

In contrast to estimates, which suggest that past prosperity or poverty could be erased in three to four generations, Clark reckons it takes 10 to 15.

Clark came to the conclusion by using surnames to track changes in familial wealth, the Independent reported.

The annual Haj pilgrimage in which approximately 1.75 lakh Indians travel to Mecca in Saudi Arabia every year has been entangled in a row with a PIL claiming misuse and mismanagement of funds by the Haj Committee. On Monday, the Supreme Court has agreed to pore over the allegations.

The Central Haj Committee and the Centre, Ministry of External Affairs have been issued notices on the PIL filed by Khuddam- Ul Haj- o- Umrah Foundation, a trust which works for the welfare of Haj pilgrims.

The last session of the 15th Lok Sabha brings to an end one of the most disappointing periods in the short parliamentary history of India.

Far from taking effective steps to bring discipline to the capital’s roads, the Delhi Traffic Police seems fixated with the game of tempting the city’s drivers to break rules, only to ambush them into paying the price for their misdemeanour. In the process, if the rule-abiders suffer, so be it! Here’s how:

It is commonplace to find the absence of traffic police personnel at some key crossings with signals. Many drivers in Delhi, used as they are to jumping lights – some very innocuous places – take a quick look to ensure the signal is not manned and just drive past.

Divulging details from his letter and raising the pitch on the BJP’s silence on the gas pricing issue, Aam Aadmi Party leader Arvind Kejriwal on Friday asked the party’s Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi to clear stand on his connections with Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani.

With Telangana all set to become a reality, major credit for keeping separation movement alive and kicking, particularly in the last decade, goes to TRS President K Chandrasekhar Rao, who could well be the political
heavyweight in India’s 29th state.

Though several leaders, including veteran M Channa Reddy, had tried to champion the cause of separate statehood for the region, it was KCR, as 60-year-old the TRS chief is popularly known, who gave it a major push, eventually leading to realisation of a more than five-decade old dream.

In 1972, the “Jai Andhra” movement began in Coastal Andhra for creation of a separate Andhra state following a Supreme Court order upholding “Mulki” rules (which reportedly barred those from non-Telangana regions to compete for posts in Hyderabad).

In 1975, a Presidential order was issued to implement “six-point formula” providing some safeguards to Telangana.

Congress fought the 2004 elections in alliance with TRS and they came to power in AP on the back of a strong discontent against the Chandrababu Naidu-led TDP government.

Nearly half of Americans have for the first time since 2001 believe the war in Afghanistan was a mistake, a new poll has found.

The Gallup Poll found 49 percent of respondents said the war was a mistake as compared to 48 percent who said it was not. When the issue was first polled in November 2001, less than 10 percent of Americans thought the decision to send in armed forces after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks was a mistake, Politico reports. According to the report, in the recent survey, Republicans remained more likely than Democrats to continue to support the decision. (ANI)

The Centre on Wednesday convinced the apex court to hear its application for seeking implementation of 4.5% sub-quota for socially and economically backward Muslims in central employment and admissions to central educational institutions.
Implementation of the Centre’s 2011 decision was stalled after the Andhra Pradesh High Court struck it down and the Supreme Court on June 13, 2012, refused to stay the HC order.

Hans Raj Hans, one of the famous Indian singers, a popular name in Sufi Music and Punjabi folk songs, and also a politician, has confirmed media reports in which it was mentioned that he has converted to Islam during his recent visit to Lahore.

Mohammad Yousaf (Hans Raj Hans) showed his desire of going and visiting Madina Munawara (a Holy place of Muslims in Saudi Arabia).

He exclaimed that he has studied Islam very closely. Then he started to read the Holy Quran and that is when he started to feel the essence of teachings of Islam and the divine revelation.

After a long and cold winter, the Taj city is gearing up for its 10-day annual extravaganza – Taj Mahotsava – here which begins Feb 18.

The fun-filled event will be held at the Shilpgram complex here.

This year the Uttar Pradesh Tourism is making special efforts to draw in more tourists to the fair, hoping the negative effects of the economic slowdown would be neutralised to some extent this year.

Saudi Arabia”s English daily has reportedly announced a woman editor-in-chief for the first time ever in the history of the ultraconservative kingdom.

The English-language Saudi Gazette named Somayya Jabarti as the new chief and her predecessor said that she was hired on merit, not because of her gender.

According to Gulf News, predecessor Khalid Al Maeena said that Jabarti has worked with him for almost 13 years and is a determined and dedicated journalist.

Jabarti, formerly worked as deputy editor-in-chief at the newspaper.

A new survey has revealed that the public’s view that science and religion can’t work in collaboration is a misconception that stunts progress.

The study, conducted by Rice University on more than 10,000 Americans, scientists and evangelical Protestants, has found that scientists and the general public are surprisingly similar in their religious practices

Sociologist Elaine Howard Ecklund said that the findings are a hopeful message for science policymakers and educators, because the two groups don’t have to approach religion with an attitude of combat.

Coalition Against Genocide (CAG), a broad alliance dedicated to justice and accountability for the Gujarat pogrom of 2002 and to combating extremist ideologies that were its genesis, has expressed disappointment at the hype over the US administration’s outreach to Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, banned from entering the US for his egregious violations of religious freedom, while criticizing the US Department for its ill-advised move. News reports indicate US ambassador to India, Ms.

Since theatrics have been an integral feature of Arvind Kejriwal’s politics, his resignation as Delhi’s chief minister can be seen as part of a choreographed performance.

Having shaken off the burden of office – a responsibility for which he appeared to be temperamentally unfit – Kejriwal can now be expected to assume the role which comes naturally to him, that of a street-level agitator.

Should Narendra Modi actually be crowned the prime minister in May, the post-Mandal social justice political platform will finally have prevailed at the centre too. Egalitarianism will have trumped the caste/class stranglehold on Delhi Durbar. The “chaiwala” jibe will reverberate with great irony, but only if Modi has the numbers to obstruct the concert of regional leaders.

BJP-led NDA is projected to get 227 seats in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls, while Congress will be reduced to 84 seats, according to an opinion poll.

The survey, conducted by India TV, Times Now and CVoter, also projects a worst-ever performance by Congress-led UPA, better show by regional parties like YSR Congress, Trinamool Congress and AIADMK and emergence of Aam Aadmi Party.

According to the projection, BJP alone will get 202 seats out of a total 543 Lok Sabha seats. The Congress is projected to get only 84 seats–117 less than 2009 seat position in the Lower House.

(By Atif Aziz) Conventional banking or interest based banking is a banking system in which interest is charged on money against stipulated period of time. While Islamic banking or Modern banking is interest free banking system which is based on profit and loss sharing.

From being plugged to earphones all through the day to getting by without breakfasts, quit those small unhealthy habits

WE HATE to admit it, but most of us have some bad habit; which might just look like an irksome mannerism. But at times, it is more than that; when it comes with a hidden health risk. So how do we break it? Habits die hard, time and again research has proven.

Way out is to first recognise, acknowledge and accept that our sleeping with lights on, for example isn’t a great habit to begin with.

Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi has deftly handled many a Patel in his political career, but this is one Patel he would like to avoid.

A small- time model Meghna Patel has put Modi and his supporters in a fix by posing almost in the buff. Meghna has posed with lotus and a placard seeking support for Modi in a series of photographs that have gone viral on the Net. In one of the photos, Meghna is posing nude with a placard reading ‘ vote for Narendra Modi’ covering her torso.