What if Indian states were countries

 If we compare Indian states to India’s neighbourhood, we find that only Goa, Sikkim, and NCT of Delhi have a GDP per capita higher than China’s GDP per capita of $16,772.

India is the seventh largest country in the world in terms of area and has the second largest population in the world at 1.36 billion. In 2015, The Economist called it “a continent masquerading as a country.” Taking this thought forward, CEDA is starting a series where we will look at how Indian states compare with other countries in the world.

Representational image | People at a market place in Ranchi | Bloomberg Photo

In the picture above, we have tried to find countries comparable to Indian states based on GDP per capita (International Dollars, purchasing power parity). According to the World Bank, “an international dollar would buy in the cited country a comparable amount of goods and services a U.S. dollar would buy in the United States.” Purchasing power parity refers to the rate of conversion that equalizes the purchasing power of different currencies by eliminating the differences in price levels between countries.

When we hover over a state in the heat map above, we can see the state’s GDP per capita in the year 2019 and the country closest to it in terms of GDP per capita in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.

For example, when we hover over Goa, we see that the GDP per capita (International Dollars, PPP) is $21,922. An equivalent country for Goa is the Caribbean country, Antigua and Barbuda with GDP per capita of $22,460. Goa is also the state with the highest GDP per capita in India.

Sikkim ranks second in the country with a per capita GDP of $20,098 which is like Belarus which has a GDP per capita of $20,099. The NCT of Delhi follows Sikkim at third place with a GDP per capita of $17,808 and finds itself at par with North Macedonia ($17,583).

Among south Indian states, Telangana at $10,857 finds itself at par with Iraq in GDP per capita terms while Karnataka ($10,644) and Kerala (10,572) have similar GDP per capita as Jordan ($10,497). Andhra Pradesh ($7,835) is at par with Morocco ($7,856).

Uttar Pradesh has a GDP per capita of $3,310 which is like the west African nation, Benin ($3,426). Bihar has the lowest GDP per capita in India at $2,076 and it is at the same level as another west African nation, Guinea-Bissau ($2,021).

States domestic product for the year 2019 has been taken from the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. GDP per capita for Indian states has been calculated using official population projections for 2019 based on Census 2011 and figures in Indian Rupee have been converted to International Dollars on PPP basis using OECD’s conversion factor. Other countries GDP per capita for 2019 has been taken from the World Bank.

If we compare Indian states to India’s neighbourhood, we find that only Goa, Sikkim, and NCT of Delhi have a GDP per capita higher than China’s GDP per capita of $16,772.

Author: Vibhav Khandelwal is a student of economics and finance at Ashoka University. Views are personal.

(Source: The Print)

Telangana mom makes 1400-km round-trip on scooty to bring home son stranded in Andhra

The 48-year-old headmistress of a government school drove 1,400 km on her scooty from Bodhan in Nizamabad in Telangana to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and back to bring back her son who was stranded at a friend's house.

“He is with me now, I am very happy,” Razia Begum giggled over the phone. The 48-year-old headmistress of a government school drove 1,400 km on her scooty from Bodhan in Nizamabad in Telangana to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh and back to bring back her son who was stranded at a friend’s house. Her son, 19-year-old Mohammed Nizamuddin, a student at Narayana Medical Academy at Hyderabad, had gone with his classmate to Rehmatabad in Nellore on March 12.

Razia drove 1,400 kms on her scooty from Bodhan in Nizamabad in Telangana to Nellore in Andhra Pradesh

“I accompanied him as he was going to see his father who was unwell and I also wanted to visit a dargah at Rehmatabad. We went by train on March 12. I had booked a return ticket for March 23 but the trains were cancelled and the lockdown started and I got stranded there,” said Nizamuddin. He tried unsuccessfully for several days to find some transport to reach Hyderabad but to no avail.

“I stayed with my friend’s family while I and my mother tried to figure out over the phone how to return home,” he said. Razia Begum, who is headmistress at Bodhan Mandal Parishad Territorial Constituency School, approached Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bodhan V Jaipal Reddy twice to seek advice on how to bring back her son.

“I was worried that he won’t take enough precautions to stay in a safe zone to protect himself from coronavirus. Nellore is one of the affected districts and I was really worried about him. If he is at home I can keep a watch. Police suggested I wait for a few days as the lockdown was being implemented strictly,” she said.

Razia Begum is headmistress of a government school in Telangana

On Sunday, April 5, with the prospect of the lockdown getting extended, Razia Begum decided to go to Nellore and bring back her son. “I had no option but to go on my scooty. Hiring a car was out of question as no one was interested and besides, if I was travelling in a car the chances of being allowed by police on the highway were bleak. I thought that by riding on the scooty alone I would be able to convince cops to allow me to travel. I neither informed my son nor my brothers and sisters. I started off early Monday morning and only after reaching Toopran on the outskirts of Hyderabad I informed my son that I was coming to pick him up,” she said.

“I have been driving two-wheeler since 25 years. My husband passed away 14 years ago and even at that time I used to drive to Hyderabad on a two-wheeler when he had to undergo dialysis. So I was not afraid although the distance was daunting,” she said.

Razia Begum topped up petrol wherever she found a fuel station and carried a five-liter can with additional fuel. She carried rotis and sabzi for the journey. “I took 15-20 minute breaks at fuel stations, drank water and let the scooty engine cool down. Thankfully, the scooty did not break down anywhere. When I reached the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border, it was late evening and the cops there were surprised to see me. They were taken aback when I told them where I was coming from and where I was going and it took a lot of convincing to allow me to go. They were worried about my safety; they said that there was no one on the highway and night was falling. However, I convinced them that I will be safe and drove away. The highway was dark and lonely but I had to pick up my son. I was stopped by police at a check post at 2 am on Tuesday on the outskirts Nellore. After listening to my story, they said that the road ahead was dangerous and advised me to halt for some time. I waited at a roadside shelter near the check post till 4 am and then called my son that I was nearby,” she said.

“She arrived at 7:30 am. She drove almost 23-24 hours to pick me up,” said her son.

“She arrived at 7:30 am. She drove almost 23-24 hours to pick me up and I was overwhelmed and very happy to see her. We left again in the afternoon and returned to Bodhan Wednesday evening. She had her first good meal after two days,” Nizamuddin said.

“She is a gutsy lady. I tried to persuade her to hire a car but she said she doesn’t have that much money and went on the scooty. She requested a letter from me stating the reason for which she was traveling to be shown if she was stopped at check-posts. Her courage to bring back her stranded son is very moving,” Assistant Commissioner of Police (ACP) Bodhan V Jaipal Reddy said.

(Source: TIE)

Who is saving whom? MPs talk big on reforming rape laws, but nearly 50% have criminal records

There are moments in every country’s history that make its people reconsider all that they and their collective strength as a nation stand for. The world map as we now know has come to so evolve due to the changing perceptions as well as the aspirations of the people. 

Not all wars are fought by the armed forces but the most crucial ones, that make and break nations, are a result of political will that finds its justification in the votes of the people.

It was so in 2012 in India’s national capital when the brutal rape of a 23-year-old  in a private bus shocked the very consciousness of the people and sent the country’s masses on the streets, demanding that justice be served to Nirbhaya. It wasn’t long ago and human memory would serve to remind us of the outrage that followed. 

But it’s just been seven years and another similar shocker has this time come from the city of Hyderabad where a veterinarian was gang-raped and killed -- literally burnt alive. Her charred body was found under a culvert in Shadnagar in Hyderabad on November 28, a day after she went missing.

A movement calling for justice and ending violence and sexual assault against women is gaining ground even as the episode rocked the Upper House of the Parliament. 

As MPs expressed anguish over the Hyderabad rape and murder case, Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu suggested a rethink on the practice of allowing convicts in heinous crimes to go in for mercy appeals. 

"What happens even after punishment is given (to convicts). We all are witness...appeal, mercy (petition)...can anybody think of having mercy on such people," he said, observing this process has been followed for years.

Naidu said crime against women is a "societal disease" and there is some sort of lacunae in systems, both legal as well as the police. "This kind of violation of the dignity of women cannot go on unchallenged. It should be nipped in the bud," he said, and added that it was already too late.

Wait, what? The dignity of women? Let us first look at how we are breaking the morale of our women and boosting the spirits of offenders to go to any extent.

Kuldeep Sengar, rape accused legislator who was expelled by BJP after a lot of public outrage, was seen on Independence Day greeting advertisements alongside Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath in the local edition of a Hindi daily. 

He featured on advertisements funded by the Panchayat chairman of Ugoo area in Unnao. Meant to wish residents on Independence Day and Raksha Bandhan on August 15, the ads also had photos of Sengar's wife.

He had also been named in the case pertaining to the death of the survivor's father. Another case was registered against the former BJP leader after the victim met with a deadly accident last month. The lawmaker had allegedly raped the girl, a minor at that time, at his residence in Unnao in 2017, where she had gone to seek a job.

That the state machinery failed to act appropriately against him even under tremendous public pressure and that powerful politicians extended support to him has been proven time and again.

Lest you forget, there is the curious case of Chinmayanand too. This alleged rape case involving former BJP minister got so murkier that the law student who had filed a rape complaint against him is currently in jail, for blackmailing him apparently. 

Despite all outrage, the local leaders of India’s ruling party showed no backbone as they continued to extend their political support to the man accused of crimes as heinous as those that have shocked us again today. This man was permitted to hold a press conference of sorts and sitting MPs from our very own parliament were regular visitors to him in jail. 

And then we look at the other side. A student, Anu Dubey was "hit, beaten up and threatened by three Delhi Police cops" for protesting against the Telangana doctor rape and murder case. 

Nearly half of the newly-elected Lok Sabha members have criminal charges against them, a 26 per cent increase as compared to 2014, according to the Association of Democratic Reforms.

Of the 539 winning candidates analysed by the ADR, as many as 233 MPs or 43 per cent have criminal charges.

The BJP has 116 MPs or 39 per cent of its winning candidates with criminal cases, followed by 29 MPs (57 per cent) from the Congress, 13 (81 per cent) from the JDU, 10 (43 per cent) from the DMK and nine (41 per cent) from the TMC.

Some may point out that this has always been the case in India. But no, it’s further from the truth.

In 2014, 185 Lok Sabha members (34 per cent) had criminal charges and 112 MPs had serious criminal cases against them. In 2009, 162 (nearly 30 per cent) out of the 543 Lok Sabha MPs had criminal charges and 14 per cent had serious criminal charges. So there is clearly an upward trend here. 

(Source: India Times)

An Indian musical instrument with a rich history is on the cusp of extinction

The kinnera, which originated in 4th century CE, has only a dozen practitioners left, most in Telangana.

Four years ago, Dakkali Balamma sat on the ground outside her thatched hut in Mambapur village in Telangana, bent intently over her kinnera. As the 86-year-old strummed the instrument, it produced a melodious and sharp sound. Her voice was slightly hoarse with age, but her grasp on shruti, the measure of pitch, and laya, or beat, was firm. After a few minutes, she looked up at her audience and awaited their response. The rich applause didn’t disappoint her.

When Balamma was younger, the residents of her village said, she would ride around on a horse, much to the awe of her Dakkali tribe. Her voice, at the time, was more powerful, and her impressive performances with the kinnera in the district’s villages were rewarded with money, food and clothes by the Madigas, the patron class. Fortunes changed with time. By the time Balamma died in December 2018, she was penniless. The villagers had to pool in money for her last rites.

Balamma was among the dozen or so people in India still playing the instrument. The kinnera is a stringed instrument native to the nomadic tribes in the Deccan plateau, such as the Dakkali and the Chenchu. A kinnera performance involves vocals and music, and the ballads are sung primarily in rustic Telugu. But today, it is an all but forgotten practice.

Dakkali Balamma. Photo credit: Jayadhir Thirumala Rao.

Origin story
Scholar and poet Jayadhir Thirumala Rao says that the origins of the kinnera can be traced back to “around the 4th century AD, in and around the Deccan plateau”. “The Chenchu tribe [also known as Chenchus or Chenchulu], who were part of the Nallamalla forest, used to play the instrument while singing and narrating ballads or stories of heroes,” said Rao. “The Dakkali tribe of Mahbubnagar district in Telangana [in the area near the Nallamalla forest] was performing it at least from the 12th century. The Dakkalis are a sub-caste of the Madiga caste, once considered outcastes.”

The kinnera has several variations – it comes with seven, nine, 12 or 13 frets. The larger-sized ones have three resonators, while the smaller ones have only two. Much like the Saraswati veena, the instrument is made with organic materials. Its neck is crafted of bamboo, and the resonators from sun-dried and hollowed-out bottle gourds. Pangolin scales are used for the frets, and honey wax for binding. The strings were once fashioned out of women’s hair, horse-tail hair and even animal nerves, but have long been replaced with thin metallic strings.

The ballads accompanying the music are usually drawn from historical incidents, the lives of local heroes, and sometimes songs from the Jamba Puranam. The Jamba Puranam is one of around 40 Puranas in Telugu that differ from the Sanskrit Puranas, in that their content is specific to a local community. The ballads are often interspersed with simple and short, often dramatic, monologues. The tone of voice, facial expressions and body language change with the song’s mood.

A kinnera. Photo credit: Shilpaka Venkatadri.

Declining patronage
Researchers say that apart from the last surviving kinnera performers in Mahabubnagar and Vikarabad districts of Telangana, there are possibly a few more performers in Karnataka, the Adilabad district of Telangana and the Gond tribal areas of Madhya Pradesh.

Darshanam Mogilaiah, who is part of the Dakkali tribe, plays the 12-fret kinnera. He received the state’s highest honours, the Ugadi Puraskaram, in 2015. There is even a chapter on him in a social studies school textbook. Another member of the Dakkali tribe, Pochayya, who hails from the Mahabubnagar district, was honoured by the University of Hyderabad in 2015.

But such honours and awards have failed to make a difference in the lives of these artists. Their performances are few and far between – at the occasional academic meet or art festivals – and remuneration has been dwindling. Most of them are forced to live off the doles from the Madigas.

There are many reasons for this decline. According to Rao, a story popular among the tribals is that a woman was so engrossed in the music of the kinnera that she cut up her baby along with the vegetables she had in front of her. Naturally, the elders of the tribe warned everyone against playing the instrument.

Another, and the likelier reason, is the lack of raw materials. With forest areas shrinking, it has become difficult to obtain the right kind of gourds and pangolins. A third reason is the dwindling patronage for the art form, which in turn discourages the younger generation from playing the kinnera. The non-mainstream nature of the instrument is another factor. Unlike the drums, which are popular in rural areas even today, the kinnera requires special skills – both to make it and play it.

Revival attempts
KV Ramanachary, a cultural advisor to the government of Telangana, says the state has been organising performances and workshops in educational institutions and music colleges in a bid to preserve the art. But he is aware that these initiatives “provide only a temporary fillip and financial gain”. The government wants to appoint a few tribal artists as visiting faculty at a music college or university. “But for this, we need adequate number of students to enrol,” said Ramanachary. “Many people are happy to attend and appreciate these programmes, but no one is coming forward to learn the instrument. Without students, how can we appoint a teacher?”

According to Mamidi Harikrishna, director of Department of Language and Culture, “performances and lecture-demonstrations for artists like Mogilaiah and researcher Dasari Ranga” have been arranged in the recent past, both within and outside the state. A documentary was also made on Mogilaiah. “But this being a narrative art form, the language used – Telugu – limits the extent to which it can be understood and thus promoted outside the state,” he said.

Rao has been working actively to ensure that the art form doesn’t die out. His interest in the kinnera was piqued when he read of a Telangana folk hero named Panduga Sayanna “about whom songs were sung to the accompaniment of the kinnera”. “The mention of an unknown instrument intrigued me, and I set about finding what I could [do] about it,” he said. His efforts were supplemented by those of Guduru Manoja, a professor at Palamuru University in Mahabubnagar.

The two have been lobbying with the government to give the artists more opportunities to perform as well as a pension.

Anirudh A Ashar

In 2015, a team from the Telangana Rachayithala Vedika (or Telangana Writers’ Forum) and the University of Hyderabad, including Rao and Manoja, decided to re-acquaint the Dakkalis with their lost heritage. After securing official permission to travel into remote tribal areas and the Project Tiger zone, they took Pochayya and his seven-fret kinnera to the Appapur village in the Nallamala forests on August 9, the International Day of the World’s Indigenous People.

It was a fruitful trip – not only did the tribals recognise the instrument but in a touching and poignant moment, a blind man ran his hands over the kinnera and said: “I would love to play this again. But, it seems to have seven frets only and I am accustomed to the 12-fret version.” A couple of the others held the instrument and played it from memory. We are so touched, they told the visitors – it has been nearly 50 years since we last played the kinnera.

(Source: Scroll)

My photo was circulated as child kidnapper on WhatsApp': Telangana man narrates ordeal

The man approached local police and filed a complaint against the person who had spread the fake message.

It was in mid-May that Jetti Yadaiah, a shepherd from Manajipet village of Khilla Ghanpur mandal in Telangana's Wanarpathy district, saw his own photos being circulated on WhatsApp.

"Initially, I didn't care much. The message was accompanied with photos of two more of my friends, Srinivas and Sontam Raju, along with a voice message," Yadaiah narrates, as he herds his sheep through a green field.

The voice message stated that the three people, including Yadaiah, were moving from one village to another in an attempt to kidnap children and later kill them. The message also called for people to immediately kill the men in the message, if seen, and to forward the ‘warning’ to at least 10 other people.

As the message began spreading, Yadaiah feared for his life. "Suddenly, I realised that the message had spread to local groups in my village itself. I made several calls and found out who put the messages. When I confronted him, he first denied that he did it, but later said that he did not assume that it would go so viral. When I asked him to say this publicly, he refused," Yadaiah says.

"When we confronted him again, he claimed that someone else had sent it from his phone and when we called that person, he abused us," he adds.

Both the accused in the case were minors, who later said that they did it as a 'joke'.

On May 26, Yadaiah approached the local police and filed a complaint, requesting necessary legal action against the accused for spreading fake messages and instigating people to kill him.

Based on the complaint, Khilla Ghanpur Sub-Inspector Vijay Kumar then registered a case under Section 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1932 and Information Technology Act.

"As part of our job, we travel from one place to another to graze the sheep. Sometimes we even cross the Telangana-Andhra Pradesh border and come back. In such a time, if someone were to see us sleeping in the field and attacks us, who would be responsible? We haven’t been leaving our village since the message has spread," Yadaiah says, "While I managed to get some friends and their acquaintances to delete the messages, I have no idea how far it has gone and how many people have seen it."

Cracking the case
Speaking to TNM, SI Vijay Kumar said that as soon as they filed a case, they began investigating.

"He (Yadaiah) showed us the message and said that two people from his own village had forwarded it. He also said that he was scared to go out because he might be attacked due to the fake rumours doing the rounds on social media," Vijay Kumar narrates.

"We summoned the two boys and asked them how many people they had sent the message to. They said they forwarded it to another five people. We deleted the messages at the source first. After this, we spread a message through the media that this was fake and asked people not to believe it," he adds.

The police then confiscated the phones of the two accused and produced them in front of the Juvenile Justice Board, which sent them to a juvenile home. 

"We then visited the village and tracked most of the people who received the message and made them delete it as well. In this way, we managed to avert a major tragedy. We also stepped up our awareness programmes in all the villages which come under our jurisdiction," Vijay Kumar states.

"Our staff worked relentlessly and specifically worked with the youth and asked them not to spread such messages. Within one week, we were able to quell all fears and brought the situation under control. Thanks to preventive steps, we were able to act before any incident occurred, rather than reacting after an incident," he adds.

Tackling a larger problem
The local police could act swiftly, thanks to Rema Rajeshwari, Superintendent of Police of Jogulamba Gadwal district, who also holds additional charge of Wanarpathy district.

The IPS officer had noticed a spike in fake messages doing the rounds on WhatsApp early in April and successfully managed to avert a major crisis.

While one message referred to an interstate gang of thieves, another mentioned a gang that was kidnapping children. A third kind were communally sensitive messages written in Hindi.

Rajeshwari had assigned Village Police Officers (VPOs) to consistently visit a few villages in their jurisdiction in order to gain the trust of the locals.

By making sustained efforts and also holding training programmes for the police officers and undertaking awareness campaigns for the locals, she managed to educate people on identifying fake news which was being circulated.

"People were taking advantage of this mass hysteria and were trying to take revenge on people with whom they had enmity with in the past. In Yadaiah's case, it actually put him at great risk. He could have been killed," Rajeshwari tells TNM, “However, because the policemen had gone to his village as part of a campaign, he knew that he could report it to us and sought our help," she adds.

"We had been seeing such messages for a while now about child kidnappers but when I saw my own photo, I was really scared. It just spread rapidly. Despite the swift police action, I'm still a little scared to go out anywhere. I feel like I'm not as free as I used to be," Yadaiah says.

(Source: TNM)

Woman kills husband, pours acid on lover's face. Why? Aadhaar helps find answer

A woman in Telangana murdered her husband, poured acid on her boyfriend's face so as to help him get a plastic surgery to look like her husband - and live happily ever after.

A Telangana woman took inspiration from a famous Telugu movie and how.

Swathi, a married woman from Nagarkurnool district of Telangana, inspired by the Telugu film 'Yevadu' tried to pull off the same plot in real life to kill her husband and live life with her paramour.
Here is the sequence of events:

Swathi Reddy, along with her boyfriend, murdered her husband Sudhakar Reddy and burned his body in a forest.

Then, as planned, Swathi poured acid on her boyfriend Rajesh's face to disfigure him beyond recognition. She then called her husband's family, informing them that their son has met with an accident.

The family, along with Swathi, rushed her boyfriend, now posing as Sudhakar, to the hospital for plastic surgery.

After the surgery, Sudhakar's family got suspicious of their 'son's behaviour' and called the police.
The police used the imposter's fingerprints to match with Sudhakar's Aadhaar details, to ascertain his identity.

This finally busted Swathi and her boyfriend's plot.

The investigation revealed that the two had killed Sudhakar on November 26 and since then had been planning to further their conspiracy.

Unaware of this sinister plan, Sudhakar's family rushed their 'son' to a hospital in Hyderabad, only to learn that his body had already been burnt and discarded in a dump.

Both Swathi and her boyfriend Rajesh have been arrested and sent to judicial custody.

(Source: India Today)

Passing through Ankapur in Nizamabad? Meet the man behind a special Telangana flavoured chicken

The rush of all the vehicles halts at a man who is seen busy preparing masalas or soaking nicely snipped chicken pieces into a well-melted marination of local masalas in a tiny room.

On every weekend afternoon, the village centre of  Ankapur in Nizamabad sees people thronging from Hyderabad, the neighbouring Karimnagar and Medak districts.

Ankapur, also known as 'mini USA', due to its facilities, is located in Armoor mandal in NH-63, 20 kilometres away from the district headquarters.

The rush of all the vehicles halts at a man who is seen busy preparing masalas or soaking nicely snipped chicken pieces into a well-melted marination of local masalas in a tiny room.

Many feel that a trip to Nizamabad or the nearer Sriram Sagar project is incomplete without tasting the famous Ankapur Chicken. This delicious chicken was also listed in the T-food fest which was organised on the occasion of Telangana formation day at Peoples Plaza Hyderabad.

48-year-old Papa Goud, well known for his culinary art, is the unassuming man behind this Telangana flavour that is touring globally. Though this dish exists since the late 1990's in Goud's hotel it only gained fame recently.

Papa Goud says, "I have learnt it from my father Pedda Rama Goud, who used to cook for family functions and marriages in the villages.  Now I am taking orders on the phone and keep it ready by the time they arrive in the village."

When he was asked what makes his cuisine so unique, he holds out packets of local chilli powder and other masalas and says, "I don't buy anything from supermarkets or use packet stuff. My wife Bhulaxmi or I go to the local market to buy them directly from farmers."

While adding homemade ginger-garlic paste he says, "Anything we buy in shops is not as fresh, that is why we prefer this." While adding fresh coriander leaves to the sizzling chicken, he says, "It is a matter of half an hour to 45 minutes, from cutting to heating up the pieces on the stove and mixing the masalas."

Papa Goud has been offered several jobs in star hotels in Hyderabad but he chooses to live in his village independently rather than work for someone else.

While this is a family recipe, Papa Goud does not believe in patenting the recipe.  "Many came to me, worked in my place learnt this and they themselves opened branches. I'm happy this is giving life to many people. Everyone should get a chance, it is unfair to claim rights over it," he says with a smile.

He interrupts our conversation to point out that the chicken is ready.  "Those who have tasted the chicken say 'mast hain'," says a regular patron of the shop.

One can combine Papa Goud's chicken with fresh palm toddy served at the nearby Palm Groves, another of Ankapur's favourite spots. As another patron picks up his takeaway parcel, he says, "We get the regional flavour of chicken that too at a cheap price."

Papa Goud proudly says, "Our chicken has even been parcelled to Dubai and Bahrain for the people who want a taste of Telangana spices with jawari roti."

It is just not the taste that delights his patrons but also the price. The price for a family pack that is cooked with a whole chicken is Rs 500. Separate packs for Rs 120-140 are also available for takeaway.

If it is not possible to go to Ankapur, the Ankapur chicken is also available at other Telangana cities such as Karimnagar, Warangal, Nizamabad. Although the taste might be a tad different from the one Papa Goud lovingly prepares.

(Source: TNM)

Coral or CORAL? Here’s how mangalasutra rumours swept Karnataka, Telangana

A rumour has been sweeping rural parts of northern Karnataka and Telangana that it is not auspicious for women to wear coral beads in their mangalsutras as it would impair their husband’s health.

Gripped by panic, women have been removing coral beads from their mangalsutras and breaking the gemstones.

The panic began Tuesday evening in parts of Ballari, Koppal, Chitradurga and Gadag districts. In Gadag district, villagers of Harlapur and Hombal said they have received calls from relatives in Ballari and Chitradurga urging them to remove coral from their wedding necklaces.

In Telangana, rumours that wearing mangalasutras at night would lead to personal problems swept Gadwal and its neighboring mandals in Jogulamba Gadwal district.

Married women from Gadwal, Gattu, Rayapuram, Penchikalpadu, Poodur, Erravalli mandals removed their mangalasutras Tuesday night and wore them again Wednesday morning.

Local women said the rumour blew in from Raichur district in neighbouring Karnataka.

"It spread like wildfire in our district. We were told that the red beads in the mangalasutra would cause problems in our families. We were asked to remove the mangalasutra at night and wear it again in the morning," said a woman who did not want to be identified.

Rationalists debunked the rumours. Federation of Indian Ratonalist Associations (FIRA) president Prof Narendra Nayak blamed some TV channels for triggering the 'coral hysteria’ in Karnataka.

Activists in Ballari informed Prof Nayak that some TV channels triggered panic among women by claiming that the coral beads caused cancer.

Puzzled by this, Prof Nayak found the answer in an online abstract in PubMed (a reference centre with millions of citations to articles in biomedical journals). The abstract was titled "Methodology of building up and validation of models for carcinogenic potentials of drugs by means of the CORAL software.’ "TV channels mistook it for coral beads and concluded that it causes cancer,’’ Prof Nayak said. He added that chemical compounds from coral are in fact used to treat cancer, AIDS and pain.

(Source: The New Indian Express)

15 progressive Indian villages that will make you want to ditch your city life right away

In today’s world, Gandhi’s words that India’s survival depends on the well-being of its villages seem even more pertinent.

Seventy percent of India’s population – roughly one-tenth of humanity – live in the countryside. This makes rural India a focal point for issues of national and global concern: the impact of high population and development on natural resources; lack of sanitation and its impact on health; water pollution from raw sewage and pesticide runoff; soil loss and desertification due to erosion, overgrazing and deforestation.

This is also why the ability of India’s villages to offer fulfilling lives to their inhabitants is germinal to India’s future as a great global power.

Over the years, a few of India’s resilient rural villages have been trying to remain relevant and adapt to change without losing their valued traditions and skills that have survived down the ages.

From renewable energy to organic farming, here are 15 Indian villages that have walked the talk and are shining examples of what a community can do when it comes together for a better tomorrow.

1. Dharnai, Bihar

Once struggling to get basic electricity like most villages in India, Dharnai has now changed its fate and become the first village in India to completely run on solar power. Residents of Dharnai had been using diesel-based generators and hazardous fuel like cow dung to meet the electricity requirement for decades, which were both costly and unhealthy. Since the launch of Greenpeace’s solar-powered 100 kilowatt micro-grid in 2014, quality electricity is being provided to more than 2,400 people living in this village in Jehanabad district.

2. Payvihir, Maharashtra

An obscure village in the foothills of Melghat region of Amravati district in Maharashtra, Payvihir, has set an example for the country by consistently showing how communities and NGOs can work together to conserve the environment and ensure sustainable livelihood for people.

In 2014, Payvihir bagged the Biodiversity Award from the United Nation’s Development Programme for turning a barren, 182-hectare land under community forest right, into a forest. Recently, the village also came up with an out-of-the-box idea of selling organic sitafals (custard apples) and mangoes in Mumbai under their brand Naturals Melghat!

3. Hiware Bazaar, Maharashtra

Amid the desperate denizens scrounging for water in the drought-affected parts of Maharashtra stands a village that has not felt the need to call a single water tanker – in fact, it hasn’t called for one since 1995. The village also has 60 millionaires and the highest per-capita income in India.

Facing a major water crisis each year because of the measly rainfall it gets, the village decided to shun water-intensive crops and opted for horticulture and dairy farming. Their consistent water conservation initiatives led to rising groundwater levels and the village started to prosper. Today, the village has 294 open wells, each brimming with water just as the village brims with prosperity.

4. Odanthurai, Tamil Nadu

Odanthurai, a panchayat situated in Mettupalayam taluk of Coimbatore district, has been a model village for the other villages for more than a decade. The panchayat has not only been generating electricity for their own use, but also selling power to Tamil Nadu Electricity Board.

Having already won international acclaim through its unique welfare schemes and energy self-sufficiency drives, Odanthurai near Mettupalayam has begun efforts to develop a corpus of Rs 5 crore to install wind and solar energy farms. This project will enable free supply of electricity to over 8,000 residents.

5. Chizami, Nagaland

A small village in Nagaland’s Phek district, Chizami has been scripting a quiet revolution in terms of socioeconomic reforms and environmental protection for almost a decade. A model village in the Naga society, Chizami is today visited by youth from Kohima and neighbouring villages for internships in the Chizami model of development.

What is unique in the Chizami model of development is that marginalised women have played an important role in bringing about this socio-economic and sustainable transformation that is rooted in traditional practices of the state.

6. Gangadevipalli, Andhra Pradesh

If India lives in its villages, then the model it perhaps must follow is Gangadevipalli, a hamlet in Andhra Pradesh’s Warangal district where every house has the bare necessities of life, and more. From regular power and water supply to a scientific water filtration plant, a community-owned cable TV service and concrete, well-lit roads, this model village has been steadily gaining in prosperity thanks to a disciplined and determined community that has also managed to work in harmony towards goals set collectively.

7. Kokrebellur, Karnataka

Kokrebellur, a small village in Maddur taluk of Karnataka, offers you an unusual and mesmerizing sight as you’ll find some of India’s rarest species of birds chirping in the backyards of these village homes. Named after the Painted Storks, which are called Kokkare in Kannada, this small village (which is not a reserved bird sanctuary) has set an example of how birds and humans can co-exist in complete harmony. The villagers treat these birds as a part of their family and have also created a small area for wounded birds to rest. Birds are so friendly here that they even allow you to go very close to them.

8. Khonoma, Nagaland

From being a cradle of resistance to the British colonial rule, Khonoma has come a long way to become India’s first green village. Home to a 700-year-old Angami settlement and perfectly terraced fields, this unique, self-sustaining village in Nagaland is a testament to the willpower of the tribal groups of Nagaland to protect and conserve their natural habitat. All hunting is banned in the village, which also practices its own ecofriendly version of jhum agriculture (instead of the traditional slash-and-burn method) that enriches the soil.

9. Punsari, Gujarat

Punsari village, barely 100 km from Ahmedabad, could be a textbook case of development. Closed-circuit cameras, water purifying plants, biogas plants, air-conditioned schools, Wi-Fi, biometric machines – the village has it all. And all of it was done in a matter of eight years, at a cost of Rs. 16 crore. The man behind the transformation is its young tech-savvy sarpanch – 33-year-old Himanshu Patel – who proudly states that his village offers “the amenities of a city but the spirit of a village.”

10. Ramchandrapur, Telangana

The first village in Telangana region to win the Nirmal Puraskar in 2004-05, Ramchandrapur came into focus a decade ago when the villagers pledged to donate their eyes for the visually challenged. Among its many achievements, all the houses in the village have smokeless chullahs and toilets with tap-water facilities. It is the first village in the state to construct a sub-surface dyke on the nearby river and solve drinking water problems by constructing two over-head tanks in each house. The village does not have drainage system and all the water generated from each house is diverted to the gardens, which are planted by the villagers in each house.

11. Mawlynnong, Meghalaya

In the tiny hamlet of Mawlynnong, plastic is banned, spotless paths are lined with flowers, bamboo dustbins stand at every corner, volunteers sweep the streets at regular intervals and large signboards warn visitors against littering. Here, tidying up is a ritual that everyone – from tiny toddlers to toothless grannies – takes very seriously. Thanks to the tireless efforts of the village community, this small, 600-odd-person hamlet in Meghalaya is today renowned as the cleanest village in India and Asia.

12. Piplantri, Rajasthan

For the last several years, the Piplantri village panchayat has been saving girl children and increasing the green cover in and around it at the same time. Here, villagers plant 111 trees every time a girl is born and the community ensures these trees survive, attaining fruition as the girls grow up. They also set up a fixed deposit for the girls and make their parents sign an affidavit that ensures their education.

Over the last nine years, people here have managed to plant over a quarter million trees on the village’s grazing commons. To prevent these trees from being infested with termite, the residents planted over 2.5 million aloe vera plants around them. Now, these trees, especially the aloe vera, are a source of livelihood for several residents.

13. Eraviperoor, Kerala

At a time when the country is abuzz with talks about Digital India, and how technology can be taken to the remotest corners of the country, the Eraviperoor gram panchayat in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala is leading way. It is the first gram panchayat in Kerala to have free Wi-Fi for the general public.

The village has also launched a free palliative care scheme for the poor and is the first panchayat in the state to get ISO-9001 certification for its Primary Health Centre. It has also been recognised as a Model Hi-tech Green Village, by the Horticulture Department, for its green initiatives.

14. Baghuvar, Madhya Pradesh

A small village in Madhya Pradesh, Baghuvar is the only village in India that has functioned without a sarpanch since independence, and that too efficiently. Every house in the village has its own lavatories and there is a common toilet complex that is used for social functions. The village has underground sewage lines as well as the highest number of biogas plants in the state. The gas produced is used as cooking fuel and to light up the village. Thanks to its unique way of water conservation, this village also has enough water to survive drought-like conditions for years.

15. Shikdamakha, Assam

Way before Swacch Bharat, in 2010, a remote Assam village had set cleanliness goals for itself. Shikdamakha, near Guwahati, runs cleanliness drives and competitions, and wants to surpass Mawlynnong in Meghalaya as Asia’s cleanest village. A plastic-free village that earned the maximum points in the cleanliness sub-index of Union Ministry of Drinking Water and Sanitation, Shikdamakha has also earned the coveted Open Defecation Free status recently.

(Source: Better India)

A lifestyle of telling lies

We might have come across about people who tell lies and their life itself is a big lie. But how about some poor people who are compelled to tell lies for their livelihood? It's a lifestyle for them. Here's an interesting story on The Hindu on such a community in Telangana.

Bragging is a means of livelihood and medium of entertainment practised since ages by the Budige Jangalu community.

“Prime Minister Modi, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao and actor Amitabh Bachan are all my classmates. I have hundreds of cars that run on air. If you want you take as many cars. The kings and queens around the world seek my advice and now I am on my way to London where the Queen is waiting eagerly to meet me. Now you give me money to proceed on my world tour...” thus goes the narration by a person popularly known as ‘Pittala Dora’ or ‘Tupaki Ramudu’.

Traditional entertainer
In good old days one could see a person dressed up like a typical colonial policeman sporting big pith hat and carrying a piece of wood carved in the shape of a gun.

As he enters the village, children troop behind cheering at him and wanting to listen to his bragging. Until the television made inroads in villages, it was ‘Tupaki Ramudu’ who entertained them.

Now the numbers of the tribe has come down and many of them have taken up other vocations.

Chennuri Ramalingam, dressed up as Tupaki Ramudu or Pittala Dora performing the traditional art form of bragging to entertain rural masses, going round in Kambhalapalli village in Mahabubabad district

Struggling in poverty
Chennuri Ramalingam who still ekes out a living going round the villages and showcasing his art form rued that public patronage had come down.

“Now the people of my caste are into all kinds of works. What is worse, many have been reduced to begging on the streets,” he lamented.

He said many of his contemporaries from his village, belonging to SC and ST communities, became officers in the Government, while he could not even dream of going to a school as they could not afford it.

No State benefits
“I have five children and I put them in schools. We are not being given caste certificates and so two children have dropped out of school as we are unable to pay the fees,” Ramalingam explained.

Since the Budige Jangalu community lead a nomadic life hopping from village to village seeking alms by exhibiting their talent, they are facing problems in obtaining caste, residence and income certificates. There is no officer willing to give them certificates.

“We are not even getting pension, neither old age nor artiste. All the 300 households of our caste in Dumpelligudem in Garla mandal are in a pathetic condition,” he said.